Head of School Updates

CIF Football Sanction Decision & Response

Capital Christian High School

CIF Football Sanction Decision of Preliminary Injunction

11/1/21

• We are deeply disappointed by the Court’s ruling today denying our application for a preliminary injunction. The court decision allows CIF to enforce the July 29, 2021 sanction which makes Capital Christian High School’s Football Program ineligible for post-season play for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.

• We recognize that football and other sports play a crucial role in supporting the mental health and well-being of our students. As such, we were happy that Capital Christian Center was able to lease its facilities to club teams of several sports in the spring of 2021.
  • We applied the same principles to the football club team as we applied to club teams for other sports, and we did so with a clean conscience.

• We could not anticipate this type of response from the CIF. Dozens of club sports teams—football and other sports alike— played across the Greater Sacramento Area in Spring 2021.
  • CCHS is being held responsible and penalized for the actions of a club team that is governed by a distinctly separate organization. The club team was made up of football players from many different schools, many of which faced no investigation.
    

• We stand by our position that Capital Christian High School did not violate any CIF state or section bylaws, as confirmed by the testimony of the CIF Office of the Commissioner during the sanction appeal process.

• CIF’s failure to define what constitutes a “school team” while leaving much room for confusion and broad interpretation ultimately led to inconsistent and different outcomes for students who played club football in the Spring of 2021 in the Sac-Joaquin Section.
  • Those who are enrolled at CCHS are facing dire consequences while the other 30+ players and high school coaches from other area high schools who were on the same club team are facing no consequences. This is an injustice for our students and penalizes students – not adults.

• CCHS will continue to pursue a just resolution on behalf of our students. We have full confidence that as our lawsuit progresses our position will be vindicated. But with the court's ruling our student athletes will have suffered harm that can never be fixed.