Switching For The Best
One of the main reasons many athletes play sports and strive to be the best is to achieve what is looked at as a high honor, being offered a college scholarship. Many athletes strive to play volleyball at a university. But what does it take to get to that level? Years of club? An excellent recruiting video? Knowing the right people? One aspect is how you play in high school. High school volleyball is one of the top sports in Southern California. With the high demand for spots on the team to hopefully get on the court and be seen, choosing the right school with the right program can become as difficult as choosing a university to attend. A family will look at the volleyball program, the history of the schools program, and if they are on the team will they get on the court to shine. This is why there are many students transferring in high school. All the different reasons for transferring bring up debates and issues with the CIF, the California Interscholastic Federation, on the real reason why a student wants to switch to a different school.
Transferring Is Supposed To Be For Junior College Students
High school athletes are allowed to transfer schools, there is nothing wrong with that. It is when they transfer purely for the reason of being on a different sport team that debates and arguments arise with the athlete’s eligibility and illegal recruiting. The CIF will pass a new rule today that will dwindle the amount of transfers in high school.
The Rule
Here is what the rule will be according to the North County Times May 4, 2007 article “Fielding ‘em New CIF rule to minimize transfers” by Steve Scholfield:
“It’s pretty simple-if a student transfers and his family does not move into the school district, the athlete gives up one year of varsity eligibility.”
So as long as the family moves to a home within the school district they will not lose that year of eligibility than if they just move to a different school.
Worth All The Trouble
So is it worth moving your whole family around to a new place for a season or two of high school volleyball in hopes of getting a college scholarship? In my opinion, NO. If you really want to get picked up that badly you most likely play club volleyball where college coaches look for their future athletes anyways. There is a slim to none chance that an athlete gets picked up because they are an amazing high school volleyball player. So my advice is to play club and create a great recruiting video because the money you are going to spend playing on a club team is most likely a whole lot less than buying a new house by a different high school.
Coach J