MHSAA releases new rules to impact transfers and others.

Written Monday May 14th at 11:25 AM

The MHSAA Representative Council has approved a change that will affect all transfers.

The MHSAA Representative Council approved that all transfers will have to sit out one full season based on the player's sports participation during the 2018-2019 school year in that player's main sport unless they meet one of the 15 requirements that allows for immediate eligibility.

However if the transfer student plays a different sport then the one they didn't participate in then they are immediately eligible to do that sport.

"We are hopeful this "sport specific" transfer rule will be easier to understand and therefore more consistently enforced. This rule better addresses the changing landscape of transfers, hopefully dissuading those considering moving for athletic reasons while still allowing a full range of sports for those who do switch. It may be a punishment to some but the new rule is more permissive for many transfer students and we saw growing support of these changes from our schools since we began discussing this proposal a year ago" said outgoing MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts.

The move basically means is that the student athlete whom is transfering will have to sit out one season from their main sport or sports but if the student athlete wants to do another sport within the same season then they would be eligible to play it. Here is an example if a student transfers out to a different school for wrestling then they can't wrestle for one year but if they want to play basketball or power lift then the transfer would be eligible to do so. Or if a transfer is going for football reasons but they can't play football then why not do cross country, tennis, or soccer in the fall instead.

There are other rules that the MHSAA Representative Council approved, you can read the link on the bottom of the blog article.

Thoughts

I think this is fair on both sides. I know players and families have to move but this was clearly a move to stop the athletically motivated transfers but giving them a chance to do another sport that coincides with the season that they were supposed to do for one season. It might change a person, who knows.

This will hopefully impact parents and families decisions to decide to move their son or daughter for athletic reasons but it is what is.

Here is the website for the MHSAA new changes from the MHSAA Representative Council. https://www.mhsaa.com/News/Press-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/7243/MHSAA-Representative-Council-Adopts-Revised-Transfer-Regulation-at-Spring-Meeting

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.