Central Connecticut Conference
The Central Connecticut Conference is an interscholastic athletic conference in the Greater Hartford region of Connecticut, United States. The conference has historically had three divisions - the East, West, and South - but formed a fourth division, the North, before the 2004-2005 school year. It is overseen by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.
The CCC sponsors the following sports: Football, Boys' Soccer, Girls' Soccer, Girls' Volleyball, Girls' Swimming, Field Hockey, Boys' Cross Country and Girls' Cross Country in the fall; Boys' Basketball, Girls' Basketball, Wrestling, Boys' Swimming, Ice Hockey, Gymnastics, Boys' Indoor Track and Girls' Indoor Track in the Winter; and Baseball, Softball, Boys' Track, Girls' Track, Boys' Tennis, Girls' Tennis, Boys' Lacrosse, Girls' Lacrosse, Boys' Golf, Girls' Golf and Boys' Volleyball in the Spring. Note that not every school has ateam for that every sport.
The Policy Board of the Central Connecticut Conference, one of the largest and oldest high school athletic conferences in Connecticut, voted to expand from 30 to 32 teams at a special meeting held at the Newington Board of Education this morning. With the addition of Tolland and Rocky Hill high schools, the Central Connecticut Conference becomes the largest high school athletic conference in Connecticut. Six members of the former Northwest Conference team joined the Central Connecticut Conference earlier this year and will begin play in the conference next fall.
"We are thrilled that these two great high schools have come on board," said Commissioner John Tarnuzzer.
The President of the Conference and Principal of Simsbury High School, Neil Sullivan, also stated how the addition of these schools makes a solid, competitive conference even stronger.
"Our expansion committee took a critical look at these schools and determined that they would be great partners with the other CCC member schools," Sullivan said. "It's been an exciting year for the CCC and we are pleased to welcome Rocky Hill and Tolland into the fold. In addition, the expansion of our conference has allowed us to create division alignments that make more sense in terms of both travel and competitive balance for the member schools. With 32 schools now a part of the conference, we're likely to have a few growing pains, but I think we all recognize that these moves have simply made our conference stronger."
In other action related to the expansion, the CCC Policy Board approved realignment plans for football and for other sports. Football was taken as a separate consideration and has been approved as a 'concept' at this point. Once this season is completed, the conference will use this general alignment to schedule football for the fall of 2009. Primary considerations for football realignment were school size and competitiveness based on recent records including the current season with geography as a secondary factor because games are played on Friday and Saturday. In the general, other sports realignment, geography and travel were also factored in as primary factors due to travel during the school week and consideration of student academic needs. (See below for those new brackets)
The new conference members will begin conference play in the fall of 2009. The Central Connecticut Conference was established in 1984 and has grown over the years to its present 32 teams. Other member schools include the following:
- Berlin High School
- Bloomfield High School
- Bristol Central High School
- Bristol Eastern High School
- Bulkeley High School
- Conard High School
- E.O. Smith High School
- East Catholic High School
- East Hartford High School
- Farmington High School
- Fermi High School
- Glastonbury High School
- Hall High School
- Hartford Public High School
- Maloney High School
- Manchester High School
- Middletown High School
- New Britain High School
- Newington High School
- Northwest Catholic High School
- Plainville High School
- Platt High School
- RHAM High School
- Rockville High School
- Rocky Hill High School
- Simsbury High School
- South Windsor High School
- Southington High School
- Tolland High School
- Weaver High School
- Wethersfield High School
- Windsor High School
New CCC Divisions:
West
- New Britain
- Southington
- Simsbury
- Hall
- Newington
- Conard
- Farmington
- Northwest Catholic
South
- Bulkeley
- Bristol Central
- Middletown
- Maloney
- Bristol Eastern
- Platt
- Berlin
- Plainville
North
- Manchester
- Glastonbury
- East Hartford
- South Windsor
- Windsor
- Weaver
- Wethersfield
- East Catholic
East
- Bloomfield
- E.O. Smith
- Fermi
- Hartford Public
- RHAM
- Rockville
- Rocky Hill
- Tolland
- The above divisions are used to schedule the following - boys cross country, girls cross country, boys soccer, girls soccer, girls volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, boys golf, boys tennis, girls tennis, boys track and field, and girls track and field. Football is scheduled separately with its own divisions. The following sports will have special divisions and schedules and will be voted on seasonally this year as schedules are developed - field hockey, girls swimming, gymnastics, boys ice hockey, boys swimming, girls golf, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse and boys volleyball.
With the expansion to 32 schools, there will be four eight-team divisions. The new divisions were determined first by creating two groups based on enrollment and then further dividing each of those groups based on competitive records over the last two years. The new divisions will be re-evaluated at the end of the 2009 season.
The Football Divisions for 2009 are as follows.
- Division I - Glastonbury, Hall, Middletown, New Britain, Newington, Simsbury, Southington, Windsor
- Division II - Bristol Central, Bulkeley, Conard, E. Hartford, Farmington, Hartford Public, Manchester, South Windsor
- Division III - Berlin, Bristol Eastern, Northwest Catholic, Platt, Rocky Hill, Tolland, Weaver, Wethersfield
- Division IV - Bloomfield, E.O. Smith, East Catholic, Fermi, Maloney, Plainville, RHAM, Rockville
Just because a school is in the conference does not mean it has to field a team in that sport. For example, several schools do not field a Boys' Volleyball team and, thus, there is just an East and West division for the sport.
In 2008 the conference grew adding new schools. It is now the biggest conference in the state of Connecticut with 32 teams as members. The new teams will join for the 2009-2010 season.
The new schools are:
- Northwest Catholic
- Middletown
- Berlin
- Tolland
- Rocky Hill
- RHAM
- East Catholic
- Plainville
Conference members
Note: Below are primary division affiliations; in some sports, such as Boys' and Girls' Swimming and Boys' Volleyball, some schools choose not to field a team and thus the divisions are modified.
External links
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