California Interscholastic Federation

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California Interscholastic Federation
Abbreviation CIF
Motto "Dedicated to developing student-athletes of character"
Formation 1914
Type NPO
Legal status Association
Purpose/focus Athletic/Educational
Headquarters 4658 Duckhorn Drive
Sacramento, CA 95834
Region served California
Official languages English
Executive Director Roger L. Blake
Affiliations National Federation of State High School Associations
Staff 14
Website http://www.cifstate.org/

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the state of California. It mirrors similar governing bodies in other states; however, it differs from some of the others in that it covers most high schools in the state of California, both public and private. It also differs from other states in that it does not have a single, state-wide "State" championships in all sports; instead, for some sports, the CIF's 10 Sections each have their own championships.

Contents

History [edit]

The CIF was founded in Los Angeles in 1914 by a group of area school principals. It was founded in order to standardize rules and team structures between schools; it was also intended to prevent abuses such as "school shopping" by athletes and teams fielding players over high school age. Other school principals voluntarily entered into the program, and by 1917, the organization was established statewide.[1]

In 2005, CIF required that all student athletes sign a promise not to take any steroids or they face expulsion.

Championships [edit]

CIF holds state championships in:

CIF also hosts a State Cheerleading Championship in conjunction with the football championship.

There are also Northern California championships in tennis and girls' wrestling, and Southern California championships in boys' volleyball, girls' wrestling, and boys' and girls' soccer. (There is no state championship in soccer as Southern California plays during the winter, while parts of Northern California get far too much precipitation during that time to make outdoor sports (besides skiing) viable.)

Each CIF section may also conduct championships in other sports, including:

Note that, in sports where a school has separate boys' and girls' teams, girls are not allowed on boys' teams, and boys are not allowed on girls' teams. (In sports such as baseball that do not have girls' teams, girls are allowed to play; on the other hand, in sports such as softball that do not have boys' teams, in most cases boys are not allowed to play.)

In addition, aquatics - swimming times and diving scores are compared based on final results at section meets and ranked statewide to determine a state champion; there is no state championship meet for aquatics events.

Awards [edit]

CIF offers various awards to its participants:[2]

  • Academic State Champions, given to the teams with high academic achievement
  • Model Coach Award, for coaches who are positive role models
  • Scholar-Athlete of the Year, based on academic and athletic excellence, and character
  • Spirit of Sport, based on sportsmanship, community service, and leadership

Administration [edit]

Sections [edit]

For CIF administrative purposes, the state is broken up into ten sections.[3] These sections are:

Section # Section Region Location Website # of Schools
1 Northern northern inland, north California (NE corner of state) www.cifns.org 73
2 North Coast northern coastal regions of north California (Bay Area, north) www.cifncs.org 171
3 Sac-Joaquin northern northern San Joaquin Valley (east from Bay Area to Lake Tahoe) www.cifsjs.org 174
4 San Francisco northern San Francisco Unified School District www.cifsf.org 13
5 Oakland northern Oakland Unified School District OAL 6[4]
6 Central Coast northern middle, coast region of state
(south from the Bay Area to midway to Los Angeles)		 www.cifccs.org 140
7 Central southern central and southern San Joaquin Valley www.cifcs.org 90
8 Los Angeles City southern Los Angeles Unified School District www.cif-la.org 70
9 Southern southern southern California (coastal and inland areas),
except L.A. and very southern part of the State		 www.cifss.org 567
10 San Diego southern San Diego and Imperial (very southern part of California) www.cifsds.org 98

These sections (except Oakland and San Francisco) are further subdivided into leagues. The Southern Section is geographically the largest, covering approximately one-fourth to one-third of the state's total area. (The Southern section includes private schools in the LAUSD service area, whether inside or outside the city of Los Angeles, and the Central Coast and North Coast sections also include private schools in the cities of San Francisco and Oakland respectively. The three "City Sections" are operated by and limited to the corresponding public school systems.)

The sections also serve as the qualifying entities for regional and state competitions, and may organize sports not contested statewide, such as badminton, baseball, field hockey, gymnastics, lacrosse, skiing and snowboarding, soccer, softball, and water polo.

Federated Council [edit]

The organization's supreme governing body is the Federated Council. This council consists of one representative from each section, a representative from the California Department of Education, representatives from all bodies recognized as Allied Organizations by the CIF, the Council President, the President-Elect, and the immediate past President. Each representative is elected to a term of two years. The Council meets three times per year.[5]

Allied Organizations [edit]

The following groups have Allied Organization status within the CIF:[6]

  • California Coaches Association
  • California State Athletic Directors Association
  • California School Boards Association
  • Association of California School Administrators
  • California Association of Private School Organizations
  • California Superintendents Liaison Committee
  • California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance
  • California Association of Directors of Activities

References [edit]

  1. ^ History of the California Interscholastic Federation
  2. ^ CIF Awards Program
  3. ^ CIF Sections
  4. ^ A tradition to uphold: Commissioner of historical prep league wants to maintain its independence by Ryan Phillips, OaklandNorth. Published 2010-04-27; retrieved 2012-05-30.
  5. ^ CIF Federated Council
  6. ^ CIF Allied Organizations

External links [edit]
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