LKSSAA Brings New Look To High School Sports This Fall

Gone are Kent championships and the days of KCSSAA. This Fall, a new, larger athletic organization, the Lambton Kent Secondary School Athletic Association will be governing high school sports not only in Chatham-Kent, but in Lambton County as well.

“I feel that the merger will be positive for athletics in our schools,” says James Clarke, the new LKCSSAA Coordinator, hired in the spring to oversee the day-to-day operations of the high school athletics governing body.

“Schools will get the opportunity to play other schools of comparative size and ability, making it more competitive and enjoyable for all. Also the opportunity to travel and play a larger variety of schools will make schools better through competition. Smaller schools will no longer have to play schools double their size and the larger schools will have the opportunity to compete against schools at a higher level.”

With the merger, Chatham-Kent’s schools have additional teams in each league, organized as they have been in the past, based on school population into A-AA-AAA-AAAA categories.

Despite the many positives, Clarke feels the merger will take time to be perfected, but was necessary due to overall shrinking enrolment in the Lambton-Kent District School Board.

“I think the merger is a good move, but will take some time to show success,” explained Clarke, a teacher at John McGregor Secondary School. “With any change comes growing pains. We are working hard to make sure that this goes over as smooth as possible.”

“This was a necessary change as our schools showed declining enrolment,” continued Clarke. “We have taken the input from the different schools and are working on a plan to help offset financial increases of transportation and concerns of game times.”

The 2014-2015 Lambton Kent Secondary School Athletic Association season will get underway in early September with traditional Fall sports including cross country, football, golf, girls basketball, tennis, and boys volleyball.