ATTLEBORO – Bishop Feehan is about to enter a brand new period of flexibility for its sports activities applications.
The varsity introduced on Tuesday that it could be leaving the Catholic Central League after the Winter 2025-26 season to develop into an unbiased program. This alteration will take impact for the 2026 Spring sports activities season.
The varsity will stay a member of the Catholic Central League for boys’ and women’ ice hockey, boys’ and women’ golf, and cheerleading. It should stay a voting member of the league for these sports activities.
Bishop Feehan athletic director Christian Schatz stated the choice was made to permit for extra flexibility for the Shamrocks in addition to the opposite establishments inside the Catholic Central League. He additionally emphasised that the varsity’s relationship with the CCL stays sturdy and that the Shamrocks will proceed to play member colleges within the sports activities that at the moment are unbiased.
“We wish to maintain that relationship up, and we’re going to,” Schatz stated. “This resolution actually checks the entire bins for us. We wished to have the ability to select the most suitable choice for all of our athletes and households. Preserving the connection with the CCL whereas permitting a few of our applications to be on the unbiased aspect and out of league schedules was one thing that appears to be the most suitable choice total.”
He stated the choice to leap for Spring 2026 versus Fall 2026 was because of a need to make the transition when the varsity felt most prepared.
“We have been on the level the place, ‘if we have been going to do it, we must always do it,’” Schatz stated. “There wasn’t essentially a rush to do it, however we do suppose it’s the very best resolution. I’ve talked to the opposite CCL athletic administrators about it, and when it actually received right down to the brass tacks, it didn’t appear to be anybody had a desire or minded, so we’d as nicely make the change.”
The CCL is dwelling to Archbishop Williams in Braintree, Arlington Catholic in Arlington, Bishop Fenwick in Peabody, Bishop Stang in North Dartmouth, Cardinal Spellman in Brockton, Cathedral in Boston, Cristo Rey of Boston in Dorchester and St. Mary’s in Lynn. Bishop Feehan is situated 62 miles away from Bishop Fenwick and 47 miles away from St. Mary’s, that are the 2 most distant establishments within the league. Schatz stated that whereas journey wasn’t the one purpose for leaving, it did issue into the choice.
When it got here to staying within the league for the 5 groups that aren’t impacted by the change, Schatz stated the match within the CCL was too sturdy to go up.
“I believe the league is de facto sturdy in all of these sports activities,” Schatz stated. “We’ve an excellent match for these sports activities relating to touring and scheduling. I don’t suppose we might discover a higher state of affairs, and we do like our partnership with the CCL, so we knew we wished to remain in for one thing, and people sports activities have been the simplest to remain in.”
Bishop Feehan joined the CCL in 2020-21 after the Jap Athletic Convention disbanded. The Shamrocks have been a notable program state-wide throughout their time within the CCL, with their groups constantly rating among the many highest-seeded groups within the MIAA Event.
Whereas will probably be a brand new period for the athletic program, Schatz stated, sustaining a robust relationship with the league whereas exploring new scheduling alternatives will make the expertise higher for the varsity’s student-athletes.
“There are relationships we now have fashioned with the CCL that we wish to proceed,” Schatz stated. “This offers us extra flexibility, and it provides the opposite colleges extra flexibility. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
A consultant from the Catholic Central League couldn’t be reached for remark.
