With the sports seasons close at hand, rumors have been flying around about Beachwood leaving the Chagrin Valley Conference (CVC) and joining a new conference.
While there has been a lot of talk about the new conference, nothing is definite yet. Creating a new conference would require the cooperation between school districts.
“[Beachwood] and ten other CVC schools have announced to the CVC Principals and Athletic Directors that we plan on leaving the CVC after the 2014/2015 school year,” Athletic Director Ryan Peters wrote in an email. “Beachwood as well as other schools require Superintendent and Board of Education approval once the new conference is officially established.”
Unless all school districts involved in the process approve the idea, for the moment, Beachwood may remain in the CVC.
The proposed conference, named the Greater Cleveland Conference, (GCC) would include many of the current CVC schools.
“Most schools from the CVC are going to the proposed Greater Cleveland Conference (GCC),” Peters wrote, “including Beachwood, Berkshire, Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga Heights, Hawken, Independence, Kirtland, Orange, Painesville Harvey, Perry, West Geauga and Wickliffe. Two west side schools, Rocky River and Bay Village have also been offered and accepted spots in this new conference.”
Some schools, however, would not be included. If the new conference is established, Beachwood would no longer play schools such as Richmond Heights and Cardinal. There is history between Beachwood and these schools.
The rationale for forming the GCC in most of the schools is to balance the level of competition. For example, some larger schools can’t play many of the smaller schools in the CVC and vice versa.
In the CVC, the setup of the divisions is responsible for disparity between schools. If created, the new conference would only be comprised of two divisions, which would be composed of schools of varying size. This would solve the problem of small schools only playing small schools and large schools only playing large schools.
From Beachwood’s perspective, the GCC would provide a forum for Beachwood to play some of the larger, more competitive schools that can’t be played in the CVC. Similarly, there were some difficulties with scheduling games with other schools, and some teams were not even able to field a team to play.
Peters commented that the GCC will be an excellent conference and will be “a more competitive league which offers greater opportunities for our students, staff and community members. This is a great opportunity for Beachwood.”
With hightened competition. Beachwood athletes will need to increase their level of hard work, dedication and a competitive spirit.
Girls Varsity Tennis Coach Sara Crane finds the jump from CVC to GCC to be interesting. “On one hand, I understand why we would want to be part of a league that includes schools that are comparable in size to ours,” she said.
“On the other hand, I’m a little disappointed that we want to be in the same league as some of our long standing rivals,” she continued.
Cross Country Coach Jamie Lader is more optimistic about the change.
“So far I believe that this might be a really good move for Beachwood. Especially in track and cross country, it has been really tough competing against some of the big schools in the area. I look forward to competing against schools whose enrollment is closer to our enrollment,” he wrote in an email.
“As our department continues to improve, and our coaches improve and our kids work harder and smarter, I think we’ll be able to beat anybody,” Peters wrote.
