This has been a crazy year for high school as well as college sports due to an increase in transfers, especially in the Omaha Metro area. Currently, any student who transfers shall be ineligible for varsity competition for 90 school days. If you transfer before then, you are eligible to play the sport that you are transferring for.
Many schools have received transfers primarily for football and basketball. The schools that are getting the most attention are Millard South and Omaha Westside. During this football season Millard South received many transfers from schools such as Millard West, Omaha North, Omaha Central, etc. While many people view transferring as a bad thing, there can be some positive outcomes. The players transferring can receive more attention from scouts for collegiate sports.
Transferring in my opinion can be a very key thing for students and athletes looking for more or different opportunities. Yet many schools and people find ways to exploit it. I think that people should be able to transfer but schools receiving over 20 transfers for one sport is excessive. Currently, according to the NSAA rule book on transferring it says that a player can transfer only one time out of his/her district but you can transfer as much as you want in your own district. I think that we need to put in a rule that you can only transfer once, even if it is in your district.
If a student is interested in playing a fall sport such as football, cross country, tennis, etc, they must transfer by May 1 to be eligible to play a fall sport. If a student transfers after this date, they will have to wait 90 school days before being eligible to play that sport. There have been rumors spreading about how the NSAA might make it 180 school days to transfer instead of 90, which would mean you need to transfer at the beginning of the school year if you want to transfer for next year.
If this were to happen, I do believe that there would be fewer people transferring but it would still allow people to transfer. Many people think that transferring itself is the reason many people are moving schools so often after just a year of high school. Many schools will recruit kids to transfer to their schools with ideas such as getting more looks from colleges and playing time.
The one way the NSAA can’t stop transferring is if people are willing to move houses and districts. I know a few people who moved houses so that they could go to another school but that type of transfer is good because it can allow someone to be exposed to a new neighborhood as well as a different team, culture and community of people. If you don’t move, but transfer schools, you really aren’t getting all of those positives.
Just from a moral standpoint, I think transferring around your city really isn’t the best idea. even if you believe you will receive more college interest, which most of the time doesn’t really matter where you go as long as you meet their qualifications. When you transfer, you are leaving behind people you have been friends with for most of your life. It also doesn’t help if you are a junior transferring for your senior year for a sport such as football, because you will be spending most of your time and practices learning the playbook and then once you finally have it down the season might already be close to over.
Overall, transferring is a good thing for kids who seek different opportunities, culture and environment for the right reasons. Unfortunately, in recent years, transferring has been exploited by schools and players. While it has its negatives, it also has its positives. I believe there are a few things we could change and add to make transferring less popular and help kids find their same interests in transferring while staying at their current school.
