Proposed Assembly Bill Would Be a Huge Mistake

Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R-Westlake Village) has come up with an early April Fool’s joke.

She has introduced AB 2312, which would prohibit any restrictions on high school athletes who transfer to other schools.

In other words, an athlete could play in a football game for Woodland Hills Taft one week, then transfer to Woodland Hills El Camino Real the next without changing residences and play immediately. A basketball player could be benched in December, transfer to another school in January and play immediately.

“It’s absurd,” Taft football Coach Troy Starr said.

State Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) has introduced a similar measure, SB 1411. The only time a transfer restriction would come into play in Ortiz’s vision would be for disciplinary reasons. Otherwise, it’s transfer anywhere you want at any time and be eligible.

Currently, the City and Southern sections require athletes who transfer without moving to sit out one year of varsity competition unless they obtain a hardship waiver.

That has helped prevent parents and students from manipulating a system that is supposed to focus on education.

But the lure of playing for a championship team or obtaining a college sports scholarship motivates parents to seek any and all loopholes.

Removing transfer restrictions would create an anything-goes environment and be a direct assault on the statewide “Character Counts -- Pursuing Victory With Honor” interscholastic athletic program.

Michael Josephson of the Josephson Institute of Ethics said the bills are “a terrible idea.”

“It distorts competition and displaces athletes, and that’s unacceptable,” he said.

Jennifer Vitela, a legislative aide to Strickland, said the bill is intended to empower parents and students.

“We believe the current structure doesn’t protect parental choice or protect the student-athlete,” she said.

Vitela said she has consulted coaches and parents, but she didn’t contact two of the most high-profile coaches in her district, football Coach Jim Benkert of Westlake Village Westlake and football Coach Bill Redell of Westlake Village Oaks Christian.

“It would be a nightmare,” Benkert said of the proposal.

Added Redell: “There has to be some guidelines and restrictions transferring to and from schools because it would get out of hand.”

The City Section used to allow students to transfer once during their four years of high school without restrictions. That rule resulted in hundreds of athletes transferring yearly in the second largest school district in the nation -- 945 transfers took place from 1999 to December 2001 -- causing dissension among coaches and allegations of recruiting. The City imposed its transfer restriction policy in 2003, following the Southern Section’s lead.

The Southern Section received 7,331 transfer requests -- both athletic and otherwise -- in May before the start of the 2002-03 school year, its last without transfer restrictions.

Since last July, the Southern Section has received only 2,122 transfer requests.

Vitela is scheduled to meet with Southern Section Commissioner Jim Staunton today to discuss Strickland’s proposed bill.

Any politician, Republican or Democrat, ought to do some investigation into the ramifications of such a law before signing on to this foolish idea.

“I’d say the Legislature has a few other issues to address before messing with the sports programs,” Redell said.

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There’s growing concern among Southern Section administrators about the bad behavior exhibited by boys’ and girls’ soccer players.

There were 482 ejections this season, an increase of 115 over last year. Many were for fighting or obscenity. Two players allegedly attacked officials. Fifty-six boys’ coaches were also ejected along with 23 girls’ coaches.

There’s talk about increasing the punishment for receiving a red card, making it a two-game suspension instead of one. And if a coach is ejected, the game would be forfeited immediately, as is done in the City Section.

The soccer community needs to clean up its act.

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For those who still wonder what’s so magical about sports competition, examine the relationship between Villa Park junior forward Drew Viney and Santa Ana Mater Dei junior guard Kamyron Brown.

They have known each other since kindergarten. They’re such good friends that they hang out together during the week even though they attend rival schools.

To see them embrace last Saturday at the Sports Arena before Villa Park took on Mater Dei in the Southern California Regional Division II final, then play against each other with great passion and emotion was a sight to admire.

It was an example of two teenagers wanting badly to beat the other, then, after the final buzzer sounded, renewing their respect and friendship. It’s what sports competition is all about.

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.