Cedar Valley Christian votes for sanctioning

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Cedar Valley Christian is taking the leap.The school advisory committee for the small, private school in southeast Cedar Rapids voted unanimously to begin affiliation with the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, beginning next fall.Cedar Valley will compete in volleyball and girls' and boys' basketball in the 2011-12 school year."We're considering the addition of a couple other sports, but I'm not privileged to share more information than that," said Stephanie Hodge, the school's athletic director. "Our volleyball schedule for next fall is complete, and we've got a good jump on our basketball schedule."The basketball schedule for 2011-12 includes girl-boy double-headers against schools like North Linn, Springville, Dunkerton, Iowa Mennonite and Morning Star Academy. Cedar Valley will compete as an independent in 2011-12, then seek a conference --possibly as soon as 2012-13.Possibilities include the Big East and Tri-Rivers conferences.Officials from Cedar Valley have pondered IHSAA/IGHSAU sanctioning for the better part of a decade. But rising costs of travel, plus the fact that the Huskies have become dominant against their Northern Illinois Christian Conference brethren, made it clear that the time had come to take the plunge."The competition is declining. Our boys have been winning most of their games by 40 points," Hodge said. "That's not fun for anybody. And we travel quite a distance and there's a cost to that."The school, located at 3636 Cottage Grove Ave. SE, is a K-12 school run as a ministry of Cedar Valley Bible Church and has an enrollment of 75 students in grades 9-12There are nine girls and 17 boys on the varsity basketball teams.The move will force some of its students to make a decision. In the past, its students could play basketball and volleyball for other schools, even though Cedar Valley has its own teams. That will be illegal once the school is sanctioned by the IHSAA and IGHSAU."They'll have to make a decision to stay here or go to another school," Hodge said. "But overall, we feel this is a wise decision for our school."In sports not offered by Cedar Valley, its students still will be allowed to compete for other schools.