The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the
California Interscholastic Federation
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a s ...
(CIF). Its membership includes most public and private high schools in
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
,
San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...
,
Ventura, and central and southern
Santa Barbara counties. Teams from the
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...
(LAUSD) and surrounding areas have competed in the
CIF Los Angeles City Section since 1935. CIFSS's offices are located in
Los Alamitos.
Founded in 1913, the CIF Southern Section includes over 560 member public and private high schools and is by far the largest CIF section. Three of the ten CIF sections are individual current or former public school districts (Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland). The Southern Section's membership includes all private schools located within the service area of the LAUSD, which includes almost all of the city of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
plus some adjacent areas outside the city limits. If the CIF Southern Section were a state association, it would be the 10th largest in the United States.
For its first year of operation, the organization was called the Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Council (SCIAC). That acronym was taken over by the
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) is a college athletic conference that operates in the NCAA's Division III. The conference was founded in 1915 and it consists of twelve small private schools that are located in ...
in 1915 after the Southern Section name was established. CIF was officially formed in 1914 and became statewide in 1917.
The service area was larger, encompassing what is now the CIF Los Angeles City Section, which broke off in 1935, and the
CIF San Diego Section
The CIF San Diego Section (CIF-SDS) is the governing body of high school athletics for most of the two southernmost counties of California (San Diego and Imperial Counties), one of ten such sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Fede ...
which broke off in 1960.
Imperial County
Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...
was once part of the section as well, but broke off in 2000 to join the San Diego Section. At various points in time, schools in
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, and
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
,
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, were part of the section.
Commissioners
![CIFSSLogo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/CIFSSLogo.jpg)
* Seth F. Van Patten (1913-1951)
* William W. Russell (1951-1954)
* J. Kenneth Fagans (1954-1975)
* Thomas E. Byrnes (1975-1980)
* Ray J. Plutko (1980-1986)
* Stan Thomas (1986-1993)
* Dean Crowley (1993-1999)
* James Staunton, Ed.D. (1999-2011)
* Rob Wigod (2011-2023)
* Mike West (2023–present)
History
![CIFSScolage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/CIFSScolage.jpg)
The Southern Section was the outgrowth of a track and field meet. The Southern Section was founded on
March 29, 1913, when a group of high school officials joined forces to conduct a track championship meet. Seth F. Van Patten, who served as Track Manager for the Southern Section in 1913 and is recognized as
the founding father of the CIF-SS, served in that post until 1928 when he was officially named Secretary of the organization. He
served as Commissioner until his retirement in 1951.
On March 28, 1914, the Southern Section came under the administrative wing of the newly founded California Interscholastic
Federation, and has since grown into one of the most progressive and respected organizations of its kind in the world.
CIF-SS archives date back over 100 years!
Despite its lengthy history, the Southern Section lists just 10 Commissioners (the term Secretary dropped) with William Russell
holding the post from 1951 to 1954, J. Kenneth Fagans being the administrative head from 1954 until his retirement in early 1975,
Thomas E. Byrnes accepting the Commissioner's post in 1975, while Ray Plutko served from 1980 to 1986. Stan Thomas served as
Commissioner from July, 1986 to October, 1993 when Dean Crowley was appointed Acting Commissioner and was Commissioner of
Athletics from July, 1994 until his retirement in September, 1999. James Staunton Ed.D., served as Commissioner from September
1, 1999, until his retirement on July 31, 2011. Rob Wigod began his service as Commissioner on August 1, 2011, after having served as Assistant Commissioner for 11 years, before retiring on August 1, 2023.
![CIFSSoffice](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/CIFSSoffice.jpg)
The “home” of the Southern Section has a varied history. At the outset, basements, surplus school rooms and even
the homes of secretaries served as the official office.
South Pasadena High School
South Pasadena High School (SPHS or "South Pas") is the one public high school serving grades 9-12 in the city of South Pasadena, California. With the South Pasadena Middle School and three elementary schools (Arroyo Vista, Marengo, and Monterey ...
graciously permitted the use of one of its rooms
during the 1930s, with Oneonta School and South Pasadena High School serving as the home office from 1942 until 1949. There was a period of time the office was in the home of Commissioner Seth Van Patten. Still without an official office, the Southern Section moved its supplies to Helms Hall,
a bakery in Culver City in 1949 and remained at the Venice
Blvd. site until 1959.
It was in February of that year that the Southern Section built its first ever administration office,
located on the corners of Carmona and West Washington in Los Angeles. As membership grew and the Sections’ population center
moved, so did the CIF-SS office. In 1965, the Section office built and moved into its third home and second devoted strictly to the
CIF-SS day-to-day operations. That space was located next to
Gahr High School
Richard Gahr High School, often simply known as Gahr High School, is a public, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) magnet high school in Cerritos, California, Cerritos, California, serving Educational stages, grades Ninth grade, ...
on Artesia Blvd. in the city of Cerritos. That remained the home base of the
section until October 2003 when the ever-expanding membership required a larger facility. Thus, the new and current administrative
home became the Pine Street location in Los Alamitos.
![CIFSShistory](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/CIFSShistory.jpg)
The California Interscholastic Federation, Southern Section, is a non-profit corporation organized to direct and control both boys
and girls athletics in the secondary schools within the Section. The Southern Section is administered on a day-to-day basis by the
Commissioner, five Assistant Commissioners, a chief Financial Officer, a Marketing Manager and a staff of eight support personnel. The Southern Section is not
only the oldest, but the largest of 10 such sections in the state—its membership has grown from an original 30 schools to over 560+
schools and from 5 leagues to almost 90 leagues.
Sports
CIF-SS sponsors the following sports:
Fall Season
*
American Football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
(11-person) (divided into 14 divisions)
*
8-person football (2 divisions)
*
Competitive Traditional Cheer
*
Cross country (5 divisions)
*
Field Hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
*Girls
Flag Football
Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a Down (gridiron football), down. The sport has a ...
*Girls
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
(9 divisions)
*Girls
Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
(6 divisions)
*Boys
Water Polo
Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...
(7 divisions)
*Girls
Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
(4 divisions)
Winter Season
* Boys
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
(10 divisions)
* Girls Basketball (10 Divisions)
*
Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
(Boys and Girls) (7 divisions)
*Girls
Water Polo
Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...
(7 divisions)
*Boys
Wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
(7 Divisions)
* Girls Wrestling (7 divisions)
Spring Season
*
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
(7 Divisions)
*
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...
*Boys
Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
(7 Divisions)
*
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...
*
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...
(Boys and Girls) (3 Divisions)
*
Softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
(7 Divisions)
*
Swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
(Boys and Girls - 4 Divisions)
*Boys
Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
(6 Divisions)
*
Track and Field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
(Boys and Girls - 4 Divisions)
*Boys
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
(6 Divisions)
*Girls
Beach Volleyball
Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...
(2 Divisions)
*Girls
Stunt Cheer (1 Divisions)
Leagues
*
605 League
*
Academy League
*
Agape/Cross Valley Conference
*
Agape League
*
Almont League
*
Ambassador League
*
Angelus League (football only)
*
Arrowhead League
*
Arrowhead Athletic Conference
*
Baseline League
The Baseline League is a high school athletic conference that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Members are located in San Bernardino County, with Damien and St. Lucy's located in Los Angeles County. The Baseline League was formed in 1979, wit ...
*
Bay League The Bay League is a high school athletic conference in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California affiliated with the CIF Southern Section.
Member schools
*Culver City High School
*Mira Costa High School
*Palos Verdes High School
* Peni ...
*
Big VIII League
*
Camino Del Rey Association
*
Camino Real League The Camino Real League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section.
Member schools
* Bishop Montgomery High School (Torrance)
* Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High School (Montebello)
* La Salle College Preparatory (Pa ...
*
Century Conference
*
Channel League
*
Citrus Belt League
*
Citrus Coast League The Citrus Coast League (CCL) is a high school athletic conference in California that is affiliated with the CIF Southern Section. Established in 2018, the league consists primarily of small public high schools in Ventura County, with one member eac ...
*
Coast Valley League
*
Coast View Conference
*
Coastal League
*
Coastal Canyon League The Coastal Canyon League (CCL) is a high school athletic conference that is affiliated with the CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS). The league was established in 2014 during the CIF-SS Northern Area's biennial releaguing process, drawing several member ...
*
Condor League
*
Crestview League
*
Cross Valley League
*
Del Rey League The Del Rey League is a high school athletic conference that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Members are mostly private, parochial schools in the South Bay affiliated the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Member schools
* Bishop Amat ...
*
Del Rio League
*
Desert Empire League The Desert Empire League is an American high school sports league in the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, California affiliated with the CIF Southern Section. It was formed for the 2019 season.
Teams in the league include:
* La Quinta High ...
* Desert Sky League
*
Desert Valley League The Desert Valley League is an American high school sports league primarily within the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, California with some schools from surrounding areas. The league is affiliated with the CIF Southern Section
The Califor ...
*
Empire League
The Empire League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. It serves large public schools in the Orange County, California area.
Members
Teams for the 2018–2019 season are:
* Crean Lutheran High School
* Cypre ...
* Express League
*
Foothill League The Foothill League is a high school athletic conference in the Santa Clarita Valley area of Los Angeles County, California that is affiliated with the CIF Southern Section. All current members are part of the William S. Hart Union High School Distr ...
* Freeway League
*
Frontier League
The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...
*
Gateway League
*
Garden Grove League
The Garden Grove League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Members are located in and around Garden Grove, Orange County.
Schools
* Bolsa Grande High School
* La Quinta High School
* Loara High School
* Lo ...
*
Gold Coast League
*
Golden League
*
Golden West League
*
Hacienda League
The Hacienda League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Member schools are located in the eastern San Gabriel Valley. Rowland High School, Diamond Bar High School and Bonita High School left the league after ...
*
Heritage League The Heritage League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. It is a non-football league.
Member schools
* Desert Christian School (Palmdale)
* Faith Baptist School (Canoga Park)
* Lancaster Baptist School
* The ...
*
Independence League
The Independence Party, established as the Independence League, was a short-lived minor American political party sponsored by newspaper publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst in 1906. The organization was the successor to the Munici ...
*
Inland Valley League
*
International Conference
*
International League
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...
* Ivy League
*
Liberty League
The Liberty League is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Member schools are top institutions that are all located in the state of New York.
History
It was founde ...
*
Liberty Conference
*
Los Angeles Athletic Association
* Majestic League
*
Marmonte League The Marmonte League is a high school athletic conference in California affiliated with the CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS). The league is composed of schools located in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Member schools Current
As of the 2020–21 sch ...
*
Mid-Cities League
*
Miramonte League
*
Mission League
*
Mission Valley League
The Mission Valley League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Member schools are all in the west side of the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County It was created in 1972 with eight schools: El Mont ...
*
Mojave River League
*
Montview League
*
Moore League
The Moore League is a high school sports league in Southern California. It comprises seven schools: public traditional high schools of the Long Beach Unified School District plus Compton High School. The league is administered by the California I ...
*
Mountain Pass League
*
Mountain Valley League
*
Mt. Baldy League
*
Mulholland League
*
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
*
North Hills League
*
Ocean League
*
Olympic League
*
Omega League
*
Orange League
*
Orange Coast League
*
Pacific League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...
*
Pacific Coast Conference
The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...
*
Pacific Hills League
*
Pacific Valley League
*
Pacific View League The Pacific View League (PVL) is a high school athletic conference in California affiliated with the CIF Southern Section. The league was formed in 1998, pulling Camarillo and Channel Islands high schools from the Marmonte League to join Hueneme, O ...
*
Pioneer League
*
Palomares League
Palomares League is a high school athletic league in Southern California. It is a member of the CIF Southern Section, serving the eastern San Gabriel Valley and Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. The 2014–15 school year will be its inaugural ...
*
Prep League
*
Raincross Conference
*
Rio Hondo League
The Rio Hondo League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Members are located in the Pasadena area in the west San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County.
Members
* Blair International Baccalaureate S ...
*
River Valley League
The River Valley League is a high school athletic league in California, United States, that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Member schools are located in Riverside.http://www.rusdlink.org/Page/893 Moreno Valley High School left the league ...
*
San Andreas League
*
San Joaquin League
*
Santa Fe League
*
Sea View League The Sea View League, along with the South Coast League in Orange County, California, make up the nine member high schools of the Coast View Athletic Association, which is part of the California Interscholastic Federation's Southern Section.
For t ...
*
Serra League
*
Skyline League
*
Soledad League
*
South Coast League
The South Coast League of Professional Baseball (SCL), based in Conyers, Georgia, was a professional, independent baseball organization located in the Southeastern United States. It operated in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseba ...
*
South Valley League
*
Southwestern League
The Southwestern League was the name of four former minor league baseball leagues that operated in the Southwestern United States. The second league, also known as the ''Oklahoma State League'', was in operation for the 1904 season. The third l ...
*
Sunbelt League
*
Suburban Valley Conference
*
Sunkist League
*
Sunset Conference
*
Sunset League
The Sunset League was a minor league baseball circuit that operated from 1947 through 1950.
The Sunset League was a Class C level league, with franchises based in the United States and Mexico. The league expanded from six to eight teams from ...
*
Sunshine League
The Sunshine League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Members are independent high schools in Los Angeles.
Member schools
* Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy (La Cañada)
* Immaculate Heart High School (Los ...
*
Surf League
*
Trinity League
*
Tri-County Athletic Association
The Tri-County Athletic Association (TCAA) is a high school athletic conference in California affiliated with the CIF Southern Section. Established in 2006, the association is an amalgamation of the Tri-Valley League and the Frontier League. The TC ...
*
Tri-County Premier
*
Tri-Valley League
*
Valle Vista League
{{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot)
The Valley Vista League is a high school athletic league that is part of the CIF Southern Section. Members are located in east San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County.
Members
* Cha ...
*
Victory League
*
Wave League
*
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...
*
Western League
Source
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cif Southern Section
High school sports in California
Organizations based in California
Sports organizations established in 1913
High school sports associations in the United States
Sports governing bodies in the United States
California Interscholastic Federation sections
1913 establishments in California