State sports governing body appears set to approve transfer rules
With the Southern Section, Central Section, City Section, San Francisco Section and Sac-Joaquin Section all endorsing a proposal to revise California Interscholastic Federation transfer rules, it appears a mere formality that the State Federated Council will approve the revisions at its meeting on Friday in Milpitas.
“Based on what the votes have been at the section level, all indicators show it’s going to pass,” said Roger Blake, set to succeed Marie Ishida as the CIF executive director.
There are 10 sections in the CIF, and they are given a percentage of votes at the council meeting based on the number of schools in their section. There also is a requirement that at least six sections support the proposal.
The Central Coast Section will make a final decision Wednesday, and its commissioner, Nancy Lazenby Blaser, said Monday she expects a vote in favor of the revisions.
The new rule for the 2012-13 school year will create a sit-out period ranging from 30 to 35 days for high school athletes who transfer without moving. The previous penalty for transferring without moving was one year of ineligibility.
Athletes would become eligible Oct. 1 for fall sports, Dec. 31 for winter sports and April 1, 2013, for spring sports. Commissioners believe that sitting out a certain number of games will provide enough fear to discourage widespread movement of athletes.
Coaches in Southern California, however, have voiced concern that sitting out one month of a season will not deter some seniors from transferring with the hope of playing for a better program to get more exposure.
Still to be decided Friday is when the rule would take effect, whether that means next week or July 1.
The commissioners held a two-hour conference call Monday trying to develop a consensus.
Also undecided is whether current freshmen who have been allowed a one-time free transfer will be able to transfer under the old rule or be part of the new rule.
“We have to do it right,” Blake said. “We can’t roll this out and not have it right.”
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