Abbreviation CIAC Legal status Association Region served Connecticut Founded 1921 | Formation 1921 Purpose Athletic/Educational Membership 1,100+ schools Staff 18 | |
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Headquarters Cheshire, Connecticut, United States Similar Norwich Free Academy, Colorado High School A, Sacred Heart High School, Wyoming High School A, Alaska School Activities | ||
The Connecticut Association of Schools and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) is the governing body for secondary school athletics and other interscholastic competition in the state of Connecticut.
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History
The CIAC was founded in 1921 by several of the state's high school principals. Prior to the organization, secondary school athletics were largely unregulated, and abuse of student-athletes was fairly common. The goal of the new organization was to protect student-athletes and enforce rules for athletic competition between the state's secondary schools.
In 1953, the Connecticut Association of Secondary Schools and the CIAC merged to form the CAS-CIAC, an organization designed to support all areas of interscholastic activities.
The CIAC has enjoyed tremendous growth since its founding in 1921. Today, 179 secondary schools are members, in addition to 143 members in the middle school level.
Structure
The government of the CIAC consists the Board of Control, which contains 5 officers, 2 representatives from each of the 3 classes, 3 members of the eligibility committee, and one assistant principal.
Any public or private school with Connecticut Board of Education approval may become a member. Member schools may play regular season contests with other member schools, and in addition may enter state tournaments in the 27 CIAC managed sports. Sports under CIAC oversight are organized into three seasons: fall, winter, and spring.
At the conclusion of each season, the CAS hosts a wide array of tournaments for each sport. Every qualified school is divided into classes, based on size of school, and then play single elimination. Some sports however, like cross country, track and golf, have only one tournament day for each class size. Golf, for example, has four men's classes and one women's class that each play at a separate location around the state. The host courses for the tournament are Blue Fox Run, Fairview Farms, Timberlin and Crestbrook Park Golf Course.