Section 1 realigning leagues
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- December
- 26
It’s not official yet, but it sure looks like Section 1 schools are about to undergo a massive league realignment.
And you thought sports was a refuge from the perils of the new economy.
It seems this recession has gotten its tentacles into high school sports as well, prompting a drastic response from Section 1 schools. Starting in the fall, the leagues for most sports are expected to be completely reconfigured. Geography, not school size or team competitiveness, will be the overriding factor. That means you could be seeing current Class C programs like Haldane in a league with Class AA programs like Ossining, because they’re both on Route 9.
While the teams will still split into their proper classes for playoffs, get ready to see a lot more blowouts than before. Especially in sports like hockey and lacrosse, where power leagues have kept games close until now. Now you’ll be seeing developmental teams getting murdered twice a year by elite teams.
I’m sure no AD is crazy about the idea, but economic realities make it necessary. Budgets have to be cut. Gas and other travel expenses cost thousands of dollars a season. The new alignment will greatly reduce travel time and distance.
Read Harold Gutmann’s story for all the details.
This entry was posted
on Friday, December 26th, 2008 at 11:26 am by Jake Thomases. 
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Josh Thomson has done some of everything since joining The Journal News in March 2003. He began working for the Gannett weeklies during the winter of 2002 as a freelance writer. He joined the daily staff soon after and has since covered various high school and pro sports. Away from sportswriting, Josh lives in Westchester and spends his free time either with his fiancee, Sarah, or expertly managing his various championship-winning fantasy sports teams. He's visited 21 major-league baseball stadiums and insists that Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are the best by far. Josh graduated from Carmel High School in 1998, then went to Boston University, where, in 2002, he received a degree in communications with a minor in history.
There is still a way to form power leagues with the new format…ie…rockland will have two power leagues for lacrosse…You can do the same with Westchester…ie..souther westchester would have edgemont, mamaroneck, scarsdal, ryeetc.. in same league.,...No reason Basketball could be done the same….and if the close by westchester teams like sleeepy hollow, harrison, ossining, had to travel to Rockland….no big deal. or middle westchester traveling to southern westchester…..in the end each sport shuould be given the latitude to refine the schedules to make adjustments for power leagues….common sense should prevail…guidlines should be set up vs hard and fast pre-defined leagues
I heard that an estimated $15,000 could be saved per district. That is a drop in the bucket for most districts. For that small sum (1/6 of a single teachers salary), the children get the short end of the stick. Really strong schools will blow out the weaker schools. The stronger schools will not get the competition they need to get better and the weaker schools, while they might improve as a result of playing tougher schools, if the disparity is too big, the weaker schools will suffer blow out after blow out and they will not improve either. This needs to be a well thought out change and not a panic move to simply give the impression of saving money. Athletics are very important to a developing child. And as much thought and planning needs to be given to athletics as academics.
What’s next, real referees?
this realignment is more about perception than actual savings.
having said that schools should be playing as many local schools as possible.