By Ken Lipshez
MaxPreps.com
SOUTHINGTON, Conn. – The item often gets mentioned in passing, but the fact that it’s been mentioned for six years running is of the ultimate significance.
The Southington High School girls volleyball team, under the guidance of coach Rich Heitz, has been awarded the American Volleyball Coaches Association Game Plan Team Academic Award for the 2007-2008 academic year.
“Great kids produce great results,” Heitz said.
The Blue Knights are one of only three scholastic teams to be so feted in Connecticut, with Darien and the Taft School of Watertown being the others. The AVCA honored 128 girls’ high school teams nationwide.
The award, initiated in 1992-93, honors college and high school teams that have displayed excellence in the classroom. A team must maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average on a 4.0 scale to qualify for recognition.
“One thing we try to stress in our program is effective time management,” Heitz said. “With afternoon practice sessions and evening competitions, it is essential that our athletes learn to use their time wisely to be able to fully apply themselves to their many academics challenges.
“Their effective time management helps them maintain success in the classroom and develop skills that will allow them to realize their full potential on and off the court.”
AVCA’s mission is to develop and cultivate the sport of volleyball through a professional network of over 4,500 coaches, from the youth level to national and international, dedicated to enhancing and developing the sport.
The 2007 Southington High girls’ volleyball team:
Seniors – Allie Munson, Elizabeth Piper, Brittney Carrier, Corey Bernacki, Haley Davis, Danielle Gagliardi; Juniors – Elizabeth Nichols, Brittany Volpe, Elyse St. Amand; Sophomores – Lauren Bauchiero, Rachel Volpe, Lexie Broytman.
Conference Realignment Issues Abound
Rumors have been flying for months that wholesale changes for two of the area’s scholastic leagues – the Northwest Conference and the Central Connecticut Conference – are in store for the 2009-10 season.
Let’s start with some facts:
Farmington High has officially moved to the CCC from the NWC for 2008-09.
With the addition of Farmington, the CCC has been restored to four divisions with six teams each. The East had been one team short since Windham moved to the Eastern Connecticut Conference after 2001-02.
Farmington has been replaced in the NWC by the Hartford-based magnet school, Sports and Medical Sciences Academy, which by the way will soon be moving to a brand new facility along I-91 near Dillon Stadium.
The following information, however, must be considered innuendo until it officially can be corroborated by either school or league officials. All attempts to get answers on the record from said administrators have been rebuffed.
Berlin, Middletown, Plainville, RHAM, Northwest Catholic, East Catholic and St. Paul apparently have applied to the CCC for admission. St. Paul, reportedly on the basis of size and insufficient athletic facilities, allegedly was turned down. The same decision reportedly was handed down to Sports and Medical Sciences.
A recent story by Jim Bransfield of the Middletown Press stated that the CCC is considering acceptance of a package containing either the four above public schools – Berlin, Plainville, Middletown and RHAM – or all six of the applicants, minus St. Paul. Mr. Bransfield maintained his source’s anonymity, but my research indicates it is a reliable one.
The CCC likely will begin to act when school begins next month. The CCC protocol, from what I’ve learned over the years, is that the athletic directors will convene and discuss what’s on the table. They will then make recommendations to a board of the league’s principals, who will either accept or reject the athletic directors’ decision.
It wouldn’t be fair to anybody, nor would it be sensible, for decisions to languish beyond the fall semester. Athletic directors and coaches need time to compile schedules for the 2009-10 season. The NWC obviously would founder if six of its member schools jump ship to the CCC.
Rocky Hill, by the way, does not appear to be among the schools seeking to join the CCC. Rumors suggest that the Terriers are seeking membership in the North Central Connecticut Conference with smaller schools such as Avon, Somers, Ellington, Bolton and Tolland. NCCC members, however, play their football in the geographically diverse Pequot League.
Perhaps a better fit for Hill would be the Shoreline Conference, where it could compete with neighboring Cromwell, Portland and East Hampton.
Another issue that a 28- or 30-team CCC would face is divisional realignment. Bransfield’s piece speculated about Middletown being in a division with Berlin, the two Meriden schools and the two Bristol schools. At this point, that cannot be anything but speculation.
Here is the current CCC alignment:
CCC East – Bloomfield, E.O. Smith-Storrs, Hartford Public, Rockville, South Windsor; CCC West – Conard-West Hartford, Farmington, Hall-West Hartford, Hartford Weaver, Wethersfield, Windsor; CCC North – East Hartford, Glastonbury, Manchester, New Britain, Simsbury, Southington; CCC South – Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Fermi-Enfield, Hartford Bulkeley, Maloney-Meriden, Newington, Platt-Meriden.
A 30-team CCC would have to consider either five six-team divisions or perhaps three 10-team groupings. Should the CCC accept the public schools and reject the idea of including the schools without borders, it could add one new school to each of the existing four divisions.
Geography should play a role in any realignment. Many coaches and ADs were incredulous when the league formed the North Division, grouping the largest schools under one banner to appease football coaches who didn’t care to play Jack Cochran’s New Britain juggernauts.
That realignment disrupted some exceptional longstanding rivalries, such as Southington-Bristol Eastern in volleyball and softball, Southington-Newington in girls’ basketball, and New Britain-Bristol Central in football and boys’ basketball.
Of much greater concern, the North Division schedule requires excessive trips across the river, which adds to greater expense, massive traffic headaches and student-athletes having to leave school early and get home late. There is considerable sentiment to bring back a remnant of the old South Division which included the two Meridens, the two Bristols, New Britain, Southington, Newington and Hartford Bulkeley.
And what of Plainville? Reports echo that the Blue Devils are severely challenged to put enough bodies in football uniforms to ably compete with anybody this season, let alone the large schools of the CCC.
Aside from a baseball program that can compete with anyone, the Devils have fallen on hard times, with boys’ basketball coming off a winless season. Boys’ soccer and girls’ volleyball have been NWC basement dwellers. Girls’ basketball has massive rebuilding ahead.
If Plainville is to move to the CCC, the league would be best advised to arrange teams in a small-medium-large array as the ECC does with its diverse roster of schools. Unlike Farmington and RHAM, where enrollment continues to increase, Plainville is a small town geographically with little room for major growth. Its student-athletes need to be placed in a viable situation.
Another question is whether or not the NWC will survive. If Northwest Catholic and East Catholic are rejected by the CCC, will they be willing to join St. Paul and SMSA as the core of a reconstituted league?
Or will the catholic schools do what should have been done a long time ago – work toward a league of their own where they can compete against other schools of their ilk?
There are also questions about the state of high school sports in Hartford. How will the growth of SMSA, Capital Prep, Classical and University magnet schools affect the nature of the city’s athletics? As schools without borders, are they on an even playing field with public schools?
Wholesale change seems imminent and many questions abound. We should be able to remove words liked “reportedly’ and “apparently” very soon.
Ken Lipshez of the New Britain Herald covers central Connecticut for MaxPreps. He may be reached at kenlip@aol.com.
