Lyme-Old Lyme
Athletics
2025-2026
Lyme-Old Lyme Athletic Department
Winter Break
April Break
Athletic Director: Hildie Heck
Phone: 860-434-1651 x1014
Email: heckh@region18.org
Athletic Secretary: Jamie Snurkowski
Phone: 860-434-1651 x1032
Email: snurkowskij@region18.org
Athletic Trainer: Sammee Piette
Phone: 860-434-1651 x1116
Email: piettes@region18.org
High School Nurse: Melissa Seckla
Phone: 860-434-1651 x1004
Email: secklam@region18.org
Middle School Nurse: Brenda Barricklow
Phone: 860-434-1651 x1004
Email: barricklowb@region18.org
Fall Coaches
Winter Coaches
Spring Coaches
Athletics Philosophy
Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools believes that a comprehensive interscholastic athletic program is vital to the attainment of our educational values as a whole. It is an important piece of a comprehensive educational program. Athletic programs are viewed as an extension of the classroom where student athletes put into practice the many skills and concepts that serve as the foundation of our educational program. A comprehensive athletic program allows for both community (team) and individual growth. A student’s sense of self expression, physical and emotional well being, moral and social responsibility and the need to work cooperatively with others are all enhanced by a well organized and effectively administered athletic program. Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools will make every reasonable effort to meet the needs of all of our students both on an individual and team basis.
Associations
The Shoreline Athletic Conference is the oldest standing league in the State of Connecticut dating back to the 1930’s. The league is sanctioned by the Principals’ Association of the Shoreline Conference and has bylaws under which it operates. The league sponsors end of season tournaments, all-league teams, scholar-athletes and student leadership events.
Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC):
The governing body for interscholastic sports in Connecticut is the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) located in Cheshire, Connecticut. The CIAC regulates the athletic programs of local school districts and publishes a handbook for all member schools to follow. The CIAC sets the dates for sports seasons and regulates the number of games individual teams can play. They set minimal academic standards and are the administrators of the state tournaments that teams can qualify for at the end of the regular season.
The two main associations that govern the rules and regulations
of our sports programs.
Other associations that affect HS Sports...
CAS - CT Association of Schools
NFHS - National Federation of High Schools
CAAD - CT Association of Athletic Directors
CHSCA - CT HS Coaches Association
CIAC Officials’ Association
Program Offerings
Fall (*Sept 1 - Nov 15):
Boys & Girls Cross Country
Boys & Girls Soccer
Girls Volleyball
Winter (*Nov 30 - Feb 28):
Boys & Girls Basketball
Spring (*April 1 - June 15):
Boys & Girls Outdoor Track
Baseball
Softball
*Approximant start/end dates
Middle School
No weekend, Holiday, or vacation practices/games
Program Offerings
Fall (Aug 19-Nov 17):
Boys & Girls Cross Country
Boys & Girls Soccer
Girls Volleyball
Winter (Dec 2-March 23):
Boys & Girls Basketball
Boys & Girls Indoor Track
Wrestling
Gymnastics
Spring (March 22-June 14):
Boys & Girls Lacrosse
*Baseball
*Softball
Golf
High School
*Football (Valley host)
Cheerleading (Valley Host)
Field Hockey (Westbrook Host)
Girls Swim & Dive (Valley, OS & HK Host)
Boys & Girls Fencing (Valley & OS - LOL Host)
Boys Ice Hockey (East Haven Host)
Girls Ice Hockey (Hand Host)
Boys & Girls Outdoor Track
Boys & Girls Tennis
*Boys & Girls Crew
Coops
How they work...
The CIAC Board of Control shall have the authority to approve the formation of cooperative athletic teams. Schools can not just coop.
*Teams that have exceptions to start date.
Sports Season Limitations
CIAC member schools are required to ensure that all student-athletes are properly conditioned and prepared prior to their first athletic contest and during the season. All sports teams and individual athletes must have a minimum of ten (10) physical / exertional school practice days before the date of the first scheduled competition.
An individual athlete must participate in a minimum of ten (10) practices prior to competition.
No team/athlete shall practice / compete with their school more than six (6) consecutive days to provide a day of rest. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays may be used unless prohibited by local board policy.
A student athlete must be in attendance at school for a minimum of four hours in order to participate in a game or practice. This rule also applies to weekend events, except that the student must be in attendance at school for at least 4 hours on the preceding school day. Excused absences must be cleared by the administration in order to participate.
Sunday practices - limited to after 12pm
Holidays - avoided best as possibly (sometimes unavoidable)
Not a requirement for Middle School.
However, we try to follow the same guidelines as best as possible.
Captains’ Practice
There is no such thing as a captains’ practice. The district does not condone or recognize these practices. Parents should not allow their children to participate in these gatherings. The practice will be unsupervised and inherently dangerous in nature. All practices must be planned and supervised by a coach and fall within the established dates of a sports season.
Out of Season Conditioning & Practices
Shoreline Conference Stance on
Athletic Competition during Vacations.
The CIAC has very strict guidelines on the number of practices that a school must have prior to beginning competition in order to assure all athletes are properly conditioned. To shut down a sport for nine days will create a physical regression and make athletes more susceptible to injury.
All sports are restricted on the number of contests per week by the CIAC for safety reasons.
Not all schools share a common April vacation. This would cause some schools to lose the week of their break and the week that other conference schools are on vacation.
In closing, athletics are grounded in commitment to a team; commitment to a school; commitment to a conference. Part of belonging to a team is losing a portion of one's individuality. If a student chooses to join a team, he / she must make a commitment to honor the commitments of all team, school, and conference obligations.
Winter Break
April Break
It is the position of the Shoreline Conference that all member schools schedule a typical week's slate of athletic competitions during April vacation. This includes the Saturdays on both ends of the week. All member schools have an obligation and responsibility to adhere to this position. Any one school or sport that does not adhere to this policy creates a negative impact on the integrity, safety, and manageability of the conference schedule.
Schools that are unable to field competitive varsity teams during April vacation disrupt the competitive balance of the conference and erode the credibility of league standings and state tournament seedings.
The spring sports season is a seven week season. To eliminate up to nine days of available contest dates, creates an exponential congestion of future available dates. Northeast weather also has a significant impact on the spring schedules. The contests that would be eliminated during April break, coupled with weather related cancellations will require schools to play up to four contests a week to complete schedules. This generates a myriad of school to school conflicts, field conflicts, transportation conflicts, officiating conflicts and safety concerns.
REQUIREMENTS
For Athletic Participation
Student-Athletes can not participate unless all are met
REGISTRATION PROCESS:
Our school's sport registration is offered via online registration through FinalForms it is a secure registration platform that provides you with an easy, user-friendly way to register for our programs, and helps us to be more administratively efficient. When you register through FamilyID, the system keeps track of your information in your ArbiterSports profile. You enter your information only once for each family member for multiple uses and multiple programs, you will only ever need to update information and resubmit each athletic season…
***When completing the online registration, you will be fulfilling the requirement for the following forms and agreements.
Sports Physicals
Every athlete who participates in any CIAC-sanctioned activity (practice and/or contest) must be determined physically fit through a pre-participation evaluation performed within the past 13 months in accordance with reasonable and prudent written medical protocol as determined by his/her board of education or governing body.
***Bridge notes are not accepted
School Obligations
No outstanding school obligations on PowerSchool Account
Lunch is not included in a
school obligation
Academics
Each student- athlete must meet the minimum academic requirements established by the CIAC to maintain eligibility.
High School
2. An incomplete (I) cannot be counted towards the 4 credits. All incomplete grades must be made up 10 days from the issuance of the report card to be considered for eligibility. A student will not be eligible until the passing grade has been reported to the principal for recording.
3. A student must be in good standing in both the school and community. A student will not be eligible to participate if the work habits or conduct both in and out of school are such as to make the student undeserving to represent the Core Values and Beliefs of Lyme-Old Lyme High School.
4. The school administration may declare a student ineligible if it is felt that the student is not taking care of his/her responsibilities both as a student and citizen of Lyme-Old Lyme High School and the community.
Middle school students may not participate for a period of two weeks if they receive an F or two D’s on their report card or progress report. If, at the end of two weeks, the student has brought the F grade to a passing level, they may resume play. If they continue to have two D’s at that time, they will become ineligible until the next report card.
Middle School
Stay Up to Date
Where is information...
Sammee Piette, MBA-HM, ATC, LAT, ITAT, BSN, RN, EMT
For more information contact the Region 18 Business Office -
Holly McCalla
We are a Educational Based Athletic Program
The goal of education based athletics is that in addition to core academic subjects learned in the classroom, students experience additional education opportunities through their participation in sports. Beyond the specific skills of a sport or activity, these individuals have the opportunity to learn important principles that can guide them the rest of their lives.
EDUCATION BASED ATHLETICS ARE DESIGNED TO FACILITATE GROWTH AMONG ITS PARTICIPANTS,
WITH OTHER OUTCOMES BEING SECONDARY.
CLUB-BASED SPORTS ARE DESIGNED TO FURTHER COMPETITIVE SKILL, WITH OTHER OUTCOMES BEING SECONDARY.
What is Educational Based Athletics
Common outcomes are that they should:
School Sports vs Club/Travel/Premier Sports
➢ Not for profit (Less expensive or free)
➢ More free time and flexibility
➢ Defines success through growth and development
➢ Opportunity for leadership growth
➢ Development focuses on the X’s and O’s and the “why”
➢ Playing with classmates
➢ School Pride
➢ Encourage multi sport athletes
➢ Academic eligibility
➢ Goals include becoming better people, not just better athletes
➢ For profit (can be expensive)
➢ Stay in competitive shape
➢ Opportunity to travel
➢ Defines success through competitive results
➢ Higher level of competition
➢ Help further career in 1 sports
➢ Playing with a collection of others you may not know
➢ Development focuses on X’s and O’s
➢ Increased exposure
Athlete Expectations
Parent Expectations
Please take a few minutes and watch
The "Parenting Your Student Athlete" Video
Communication of Athletic Concerns
EXPECTATIONS OF ALL SPECTATORS (INCLUDING PARENTS)
RESPONSIBILITY OF ATHLETES
We are an Educational Based Athletic Program
Other Stuff...
Fundraiser
Many teams use fundraisers to augment their programs financially. Example of what funds are used for....
*Things outside the districts budget
Wildcat Boosters
Athletic Booster Club is a general organization that provides financial support to our teams at one time or another. They use methods such as membership fees and food sales to raise funds. Ideally, having a parent representative from each of the sports teams would be ideal.
Please consider joining!!!
Important Dates
Winter Break
FinalForms Registration
Fall:
Winter:
Spring:
High School End of Season Awards(tentative):
College Signing - PENDING AP TEST DATES (Beginning of May)
Thank You!