Dear High School Families,

Over the past decade, our athletics program has experienced a significant shift in what scholastic athletics mean at our School.  The program has grown in many ways evidenced by a larger presence on campus, increased student-athlete participation, more teams at earlier ages and across grades.  We now have over 50 coaches to meet the demands of our growing program, we have introduced the high school athletic track as part of our high school PE offerings, and we have increased access to the Performance Lab to better strengthen and condition our student-athletes. Rapid growth and changes necessitated a self-assessment, to ensure our Athletic Program is supported within the Mission of the School and that our league placement fosters an environment where our student-athletes are able excel in our rigorous academic baccalaureate programs, experience travel opportunities, and enjoy everything International has to offer, while having a positive and competitive high school athletic experience.

As part of our self-review process, we took an in depth look at data from our 5th-12th grade athletic program and then surveyed several of our peer highs schools, which then served as a comparative data analysis. In conjunction with feedback gathered from school administration, student-athletes, heads of department, and families, this work provided the foundation for a process that formulated an updated athletic mission statement, philosophy, and Jaguar Expectations.  These updates will be shared over the summer.

With the information that was collected, key stakeholders, including the Head Of School, High School Administration, Admission Director, Strategy & Planning committee of the Board, and Athletic Department, recommended International High School Athletics move to the BCL-Central. It was determined that the BCL-Central would best position our student-athletes to reach their potential both in the classroom and in athletics. This petition to move was supported unanimously by the League Athletic Directors, the Bay Area Conference (BAC) Board of Governors, and the North Coast Section Board of Managers.

Effective 2016-17, International will compete in the BCL-Central against Bay School, San Domenico (co-ed starting 2015-16), Drew, Gateway, Pescadero and Waldorf.  As a result, Women’s Tennis, Men’s Tennis, Cross Country, Swimming, Track and Field and Badminton will not experience any change in season or league opponents, as these sports are members of the regional BAC league. Men’s Baseball, Men’s Basketball, Men’s Soccer, Women’s Basketball, and Women’s Volleyball will remain in the same season but league opponents will be as listed above. Women’s soccer will not be moving to the winter season next year. They will be competing against the BCL-Central teams effective 2015-16, per realignment agreement.

If you have any questions about this exciting news please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Warm Regards,

Charlene