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Updated: August 26, 2020 - CIAC Releases Updated Fall Sports Plan (pdf)

The following is from the CIAC’s website, www.casciac.org

CHESHIRE, Conn. – At its September 16, 2020, meeting, the CIAC Board of Control reaffirmed its September 3 decision to cancel full contact football for the 2020-2021 school year. This decision was made in alignment with the Connecticut Department of Health’s recommendation that football is a high-risk sport and should not be played this fall. The board did, however, agree it would consider allowing competition at a later time for a sport that cannot hold its regularly scheduled season, such as football, provided it does not negatively impact spring sports.

DPH continues to recommend substituting “higher risk” athletic activities with “moderate risk” or “lower risk” options and /or postponing those activities to a later time. In alignment with those recommendations, by the end of this week, through its football committee, the CIAC will recommend low and moderate-risk football activities in which schools may continue to engage their football athletes.

“CIAC made every effort to weigh all factors in this decision, including the passionate voices of students, parents, and school personnel, and ultimately made the determination to align its decision with the recommendations of the Governor’s office and DPH to not hold high-risk sports at this time,” CAS-CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini stated. “In conversation with other state associations across the country, it was clear that a key factor in playing interscholastic football was alignment with the opinion of their state’s governor and state health agency.”

After consulting with DPH and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), it was apparent that CIAC’s football plan, though endorsed by the CSMS Sports Medicine Committee, will not sufficiently mitigate the risk to lower the categorization of the sport from “high risk” to “moderate risk.” DPH encouraged CIAC to seek affirmation from the NFHS that its proposed mitigating strategies would meet the standards required to recategorize football from its classification as high risk. CIAC immediately consulted with the NFHS which responded by stating that, “As each state association has its own SMAC and state department of health/health agency, the NFHS SMAC will not exercise approval or disapproval of individual state guidelines.” Furthermore, in discussions with the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS), it was made clear to the CIAC that its members are not public health experts and, as such, on the matter of playing football, CAPSS would defer to the appropriate state and local public health authorities.

The CIAC is concerned that DPH’s recommendation to postpone higher risk sports to a later time is reserved for CIAC sanctioned interscholastic athletics. In fact, as the CIAC is not sanctioning a football season at this time, schools, with approval from their local DPH, may opt to play full contact football as a “club” sport, similar to girls ice hockey, without adherence to CIAC COVID mitigating plans. The CIAC has previously tried to make DPH and the governor’s office aware of the inconsistency that permits our same student population to engage in non-interscholastic high risk sports with less oversight and fewer COVID mitigating strategies. Furthermore, the CIAC has expressed its concern that this inconsistency promotes an inequity in sport opportunities.

In consideration of playing football at a later time, the board seeks to better understand factors such as, but not limited to, the following:

How many sports are impacted to the extent where it cannot compete during its regularly scheduled season?

What other public health strategies have become available and are supported with better research?

How will facility scheduling be impacted?

The impact to field maintenance and playability.

The viability of synthetic surface fields passing the G-max test during winter months.
How has the COVID climate in Connecticut improved to support interscholastic high-risk athletics at a later time?

The CIAC has released its plan for a return to interscholastic athletics this fall. A point of emphasis throughout the development of this plan is the fluid nature of planning around COVID. While sports in Connecticut have been successfully running since late June, with COVID health metrics in our state improving along the way, the CIAC understands that education-based athletics experiences differ from club, AAU, and recreational offerings.

The plan was developed in consultation with the Connecticut State Medical Society Sports Medicine Committee, state officials, medical professionals, athletic trainers, superintendents, principals, athletics directors and coaches. Everyone involved in the development of the plan recognizes that it must remain fluid, and that it will be in a perpetual state of evaluation as COVID data and health metrics become available. Furthermore, while the fall sports committee included representation from many educational leaders, CIAC respects that a more detailed review by our exceptional education leaders may prompt changes as final preparations for the school year are made and more COVID information becomes available. The complete document outlining the plans can be viewed here: CIAC Fall Sports Plan Document

The plan allows for a shortened fall sports experience with regional regular-season play following an extended conditioning acclimation period. The season will end with the best available option for tournament play within regions or leagues. The goal is to allow for as many participation opportunities as possible for all teams and schools within the challenging current circumstances, and for that reason tournament experiences will not follow traditional CIAC Fall State Championship formats. Specific requirements and key dates for each sport are included in the document.

The plan indicates that 15 student-athletes was determined to be a reasonable number for coaches to work with on conditioning and skill progressions while schools return to in-person instruction. There will be a three-week progression designed to slowly reacclimate student-athletes to the physical and skill conditioning level appropriate for interscholastic athletics given the extended layoff that athletes may have experienced since last March.

Click here for the Southern Connecticut Conference's 2019-20 Year in Review (pdf)

WE HAVE A WINNER!!  Thank you for voting.

Town Fair Tire was the presenting sponsor of the SCC’s “Best of… for 2019-20,” an online poll to determine the best moment or performance in the Southern Connecticut Conference during the academic year.  More than 6,000 votes were cast.

The Winner:   GUILFORD GIRLS SOCCER

After winning its first SCC title since 2014, the Guilford girls soccer team proceeds to win five more matches, culminating with a 2-1 victory over East Lyme in the Class L state title game on November 23.   

Pictured (L-R) - 2019 Guilford girls soccer captains Madison Gambardella and Gabi Garcia-Perez

Photo caption (L-R)  Glen Elia, CEO - Connecticut Orthopaedics; Kyle Maruca (North Haven), Mia Lawrence (Mercy), Edwin James Figueroa (Hamden), Al Carbone, Commissioner - Southern Connecticut Conference

Three student athletes – Mia Lawrence (Mercy), Edwin James Figueroa (Hamden) and Kyle Maruca (North Haven) – are the recipients of the 2020 SCC “Comeback Player of the Year” awards.  All three students suffered severe injuries, yet were able to overcome them to become outstanding role models in their respective schools. 

A corporate sponsor of the Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC), Connecticut Orthopaedics has offered a Comeback Player of the Year Scholarship for student-athletes who participated in an interscholastic sport during the 2019-2020 academic year and showed great leadership both on and off the field after their severe injury.  Coaches and school’s athletic directors nominated these student-athletes after they each suffered an unfortunate injury that prohibited them from playing for their high school teams. All three will receive a financial scholarship to be used for their college education.

The CIAC, in conjunction with the Connecticut State Medical Society Sports Medicine Committee, has released guidance for the resocialization of interscholastic athletics and activities programs. The document was also vetted by CAPSS, CABE, CAAD, and the CATA.

The document is intended to provide guidance on considerations for safely returning to interscholastic athletics and activities experiences. It is understood that the guidelines do not fully mitigate any COVID-19 risk and, therefore, school districts, parents, athletes, coaches, and officials should make individual determinations on when it is safe to return. School districts should consult their local departments of public health prior to implementing a return to in-person athletics or activities.

The guidance does not change any previous decisions of the CIAC Board of Control or other CIAC regulations.

Click here to read the May 2020 issue of SCC NEWS, the official newsletter of the Southern Connecticut Conference.