I grew up outside of California. The high school leagues back east were a bit more rigid and made sense (at least to me). I've been trying to figure out how things work in So Cal and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to follow it.
When I grew up (with a horse and buggy and walking uphill in the snow - both ways), we were organized like this:
I looked on the CIF website, but it wasn't obvious to me.
When I grew up (with a horse and buggy and walking uphill in the snow - both ways), we were organized like this:
- Private Schools had their own league and own playoffs. They never played against public schools.
- Public schools were grouped by size of school and geography.
- Size
- A = Biggest Schools (1,500+ students)
- B = 1,000-1,500
- C = 500-1,00-
- Geography
- ~10 of the A schools within a 30 mile radius would form a league -Call it the "Spring Lakes League". And other neighboring league made up of the same size schools would be the "Spring Valley League" There would be maybe 10 leagues within a county. Not sure how many across the state. Quite a few.
- Playoffs - There would be 2 or 3 teams per "League" that would make the playoffs. Finish in 1st or 2nd place in your 10 team league and you are in. A few wild cards were selected.
- "A" sized schools would only play against other A sized schools. There would be 4 State Champs - Private School, A, B, C
- Size
- These leagues were in place across all sports. You didn't move up or down if you were good/bad.
- Everyone once in a while (like every 10 years or so) there would be a reshuffling of leagues. But mostly based on population shifts or to accommodate for a school opening or closing.
I looked on the CIF website, but it wasn't obvious to me.