By Michael Letendre
How many scholastic sports leagues are there in Connecticut?
We all know that the CIAC is the entity that is control of scholastic sports in our state but under that umbrella, there are eleven different leagues around the Nutmeg State.
And all of those leagues work in conjunction with regular season games and then the CIAC puts together its state tournaments and championships from the results of all those hundreds and hundreds of games.
“While the CIAC sponsors state tournaments and governs athletic eligibility and competition across the state, there are also 11 leagues that provide another venue for play and regulate competition,” according to the CIAC website. “The leagues work to enhance regular-season competition and create another postseason experience for students while fostering regional rivalries. The league experience is a highly valuable piece in the larger CIAC puzzle and plays a key role in serving the student-athlete experience.”
Here’s a look at the eleven conferences that scholastic programs play in:
*Berkshire League – Teams include Terryville, Thomaston, Litchfield, Northwestern and Wamogo. Lewis Mills was a member of that division before crossing over to the CCC. The league is currently made up of nine teams though rumors of a merger with the Naugatuck Valley League seemingly persist every and every year.
*Capitol Region Athletic League (CRAL) – Members of the CRAL include Bulkeley, Weaver, Capital Prep and Classical Magnet. Twelve programs make up the CRAL docket. Bulkeley and Weaver, before making the move to the CRAL, were once strong members of the Central Connecticut Conference. Speaking of which…
*Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) – Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Lewis Mills and Plainville compete in the Southern portion of the CCC South. Thirty-one teams make up one of the strongest conferences in all of Connecticut, stretching from Meriden, Glastonbury, Enfield, Tolland, Storrs and several towns and cities in between.
*Connecticut Technical Conference (CTC) – Any and all technical schools make up the lineup of the CTC. Goodwin Tech, Prince Tech and Wolcott Tech are just some of the 17 schools that compete in the league. These programs could easily form a postseason of their own for all the major sports instead of competing in the CIAC. Tech schools versus public/schools of choice during the postseason have seen mixed results, with mostly not so favorable results.
*Eastern Connecticut Conference (ECC) – This league is 19 teams strong and has both public programs and schools of choice. New London, Norwich Free Academy, Plainfield, Fitch (Groton), Waterford, Windham and Woodstock Academy are members of this league. Windham and Eastern, way back in the day, were both in the same conference (CCIL), hoping on buses for a loooooong in-conference ride.
*Fairfield Country Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) – Some of the football powerhouses reside in the FCIAC, including Wilton, Trumbull, New Canaan and Greenwich. Most of these programs we either see in a rare out of conference battle or in the postseason. Overall, 16 teams compete under the FCIAC banner.
*Northern Central Connecticut Conference (NCCC) – 13 programs battle in the very competitive NCCC though the league has several small member schools and programs. Rockville, a former member of the CCC, is one of the latest additions to the league. Canton and Windsor Locks also call the NCCC home. Sports Medical and Sciences Academy – one of the only Hartford programs not to compete in the CRAL.
*Naugatuck Valley League (NVL) – St. Paul Catholic is the local program from the NVL, a strong conference with 15 members. The league is made up of both public programs and schools of choice. Former Colonial Conference member Wolcott competes there along with several program from Waterbury (Wilby, Waterbury Career Academy, Holy Cross and Kennedy).
*Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) – The league is wide ranging among its 23 member schools. The conference includes Career Magnet, Cheshire, Hillhouse (New Haven), Branford, West Haven and Xavier (Middletown). It’s one of the many leagues with public and private school combinations.
*Shoreline Conference – This is another here, there and everywhere league. Cromwell isn’t that far from Bristol but Westbrook is. Other schools from the league include Coginchaug, Old Saybrook, Portland and Valley Regional. Don’t forget, Valley Regional doesn’t have a girls basketball team and the one female that still plays competes on the boys’ squad.
*South West Conference (SWC) – This league has a Southern Connecticut grouping of schools and programs. Bethel, Joel Barlow, New Milford, Newtown, and Stratford are just a sampling of the 14 teams that make up the league.
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