CIF Southern Section

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 (CIF). Its membership includes most public and private high schools in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Mono and Inyo counties, as well as a small portion of Kern County. Teams from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and surrounding areas have competed in the CIF Los Angeles City Section since 1935. Needles High School, at the far eastern edge of San Bernardino County, and Coleville High School, in the far north of Mono County, are members of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association. CIFSS's offices are located in Los Alamitos.

Founded in 1913, the CIF Southern Section includes over 585 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 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.

As of the 2018-19 school year, all San Luis Obispo County schools and 4 northern Santa Barbara County schools (Santa Maria High, Righetti, Pioneer Valley and St. Joseph) will be moving to the CIF Central Section.

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 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 which broke off in 1960. Imperial County 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, Nevada, and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, were part of the section.

Commissioners

 * 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 to present)

History
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 nine Commissioners (the term Secretary dropped) with William Russell holding the post from 1951–54, 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, the current Commissioner, began his service as Commissioner on August 1, 2011 after having served as Assistant Commissioner for 11 years.

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 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 on Artesia Blvd. in the city of Cerritos. That remained the home base of the section until October 2002 when the ever-expanding membership required a larger facility. Thus, the new and current administrative home became the Pine Street location in Los Alamitos.

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 585 schools and from 5 leagues to almost 90 leagues.

Sports
CIF-SS sponsors the following sports:

Fall Season

 * American Football (11-man) (divided into 13 divisions)
 * 8-man football (2 divisions)
 * Cross country (5 divisions)
 * Field Hockey
 * Girls Volleyball (10 divisions)
 * Girls Tennis (5 divisions)
 * Boys Water Polo (7 divisions)
 * Girls Golf (4 divisions)

Winter Season

 * Boys Basketball (11 divisions)
 * Girls Basketball (11 Divisions)
 * Soccer (Boys and Girls) (11 divisions)
 * Girls Water Polo (7 divisions)
 * Boys Wrestling (6 Divisions)
 * Girls wrestling (6 divisions)

Spring Season

 * Baseball (7 Divisions)
 * Badminton
 * Boys Golf (6 Divisions)
 * Gymnastics
 * Lacrosse (Boys and Girls)
 * Softball (7 Divisions)
 * Swimming (Boys and Girls - 4 Divisions)
 * Boys Tennis (5 Divisions)
 * Track and Field (Boys and Girls - 4 Divisions)
 * Boys Volleyball (5 Divisions)

Leagues

 * 605 League
 * Academy League
 * Agape League
 * Almont League
 * Alpha League
 * Ambassador League
 * Arrowhead League
 * Baseline League
 * Bay League
 * Big 4 League
 * Big VIII League
 * California Home School Sports League
 * Camino Del Rey Association
 * Camino Real League
 * Century League
 * Channel League
 * Citrus Belt League
 * Coast Valley League
 * Coast View Conference
 * Coastal League
 * Coastal Canyon League
 * Condor League
 * Cross Valley League
 * De Anza League
 * Del Rey League
 * Del Rio League
 * Delphic League
 * Desert Mountain League
 * Desert Sky League
 * Desert Valley League
 * Empire League
 * Express League
 * Fellowship League
 * Foothill League
 * Freelance League
 * Freeway League
 * Frontier League
 * Garden Grove League
 * Gold Coast League
 * Golden League
 * Golden West League
 * Hacienda League
 * Harbor - Gold League
 * Harbor - Silver League
 * Heritage League
 * Horizon League
 * Inland Valley League
 * International League
 * Island League
 * Liberty League
 * Los Padres League
 * Majestic League
 * Marmonte League
 * New Association (football only)
 * Miramonte League
 * Mission League
 * Mission Valley League
 * Mojave River League
 * Montview League
 * Moore League
 * Mountain Pass League
 * Mountain Valley League
 * Mt. Baldy League
 * Mulholland League
 * Ocean League
 * Olympic League
 * Omega League
 * Orange League
 * Orange Coast League
 * Pac-4 League
 * Pac-8 League
 * Pacific League
 * Pacific Coast League
 * Pacific View League
 * Pioneer League
 * Palomares League
 * Prep League
 * Rio Hondo League
 * River Valley League
 * San Andreas League
 * San Gabriel Valley League
 * San Joaquin League
 * Santa Cruz League
 * Santa Fe League
 * Sea View League
 * South Coast League
 * Southwestern League
 * Suburban League
 * Sunbelt League
 * Sunkist League
 * Sunset League
 * Sunshine League
 * Trinity League
 * Tri-County Athletic Association
 * Tri-Valley League
 * Valle Vista League
 * Victory League
 * Warrior League
 * Western Athletic Conference
 * Westside League

Source

Playoff divisions
In the post-season, schools in team based sports are divided into several divisions based on "competitive equity" or overall strength or success (or lack of) on the field, court or pool of play. Each division plays a single elimination tournament to determine which team will advance to the Section tournament.

Baseball: 7 Divisions

Boys and Girls Basketball: Open, 1, 2A, 2AA, 3A, 3AA, 4A, 4AA, 5A, 5AA, 5AAA

Boys Golf: Central, Central Coast, Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western

Girls Golf: Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern

Boys and Girls Soccer: 7 Divisions

Boys and Girls Swimming and Diving: 4 Divisions

Boys Team Tennis: 5 Divisions

Boys and Girls Track and Field: 4 Divisions

Boys Volleyball: 5 Divisions

Boys and Girls Water Polo: 7 Divisions

Boys Wrestling: Central, Coastal, Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western

Cross Country: 5 Divisions

Girls Volleyball: 1A, 1AA, 2A, 2AA, 3A, 3AA, 4A, 4AA, 5A, 5AA

Girls Wrestling: Southern, Eastern, Northern, Central

Softball: 7 Divisions

11-Man Football: 13 Divisions

8-Man Football: Large, Small

Sponsors
CIF-SS's major sponsors include Ford, Spalding, Fox Sports West, CIF-SS Championship Merchandise, Rawlings, Kap7, Russell Athletic, Jack in the Box, Papa John's, Gatorade, Maxpreps, CSEA, Gamebreaker, CCPOA, Les Schwab, US Marines, Southern California PGA, HEAD Penn Tennis, H&L Corporation, and J&L Custom Jackets. CIFSS games are broadcast on Fox Sports West and webcast on Fox Sports PrepZone and NFHSNetwork.com and several other independent broadcast and streaming platforms.