Thanks buddy. Yeah man its frustrating its not as open in western pa but up until this summer the WPIAL which is our district in western pa would block player transfers unless they could prove without a doubt the transfer is not for academic reason but the PIAA, which is the state of PA athletic org would overrule them almost every time. Also what was infuriating is that the eastern part of PA by philly openly allowed transfers even for athletics and players would say it and be quoted int he papers saying they came to so and so to win and to play with their friends and would be allowed. So the infuriating part was that the PIAA is suppose to oversee the rules but you have one district trying to stop the transfers for sports while another allows it all within the same state :shrug: They made a rule that "The PIAA approved a new transfer rule on Wednesday that will force student-athletes who transfer in the 10th grade or later to sit out the next year's postseason in their respective sport unless they can prove a hardship."
exceptions being:
A change of residence necessitated by a change in employment
A school-initiated administrative transfer within a school district
A court ordered transfer
A change of schools caused by a military reassignment of a parent
A change of schools caused by release from a juvenile facility
A demonstrable change in income or other financial resources that compels withdrawal from a private school.
But this is only a start if the schools get to you before HS starts they are steal taking you. I dont know the thing with me is I remember even not that long ago late 90s when it was my neighborhood school VS yours and lets go to battle and you took pride in that and playing and winning. Its a lot easier to win in HS when you have the pick of the liter against teams that have to coach up and play with who is in their neighborhood. I understand the education aspect of it but its not always about that and I feel its used as a cover a lot. We have some top top school districts in western PA that are public schools and are nationally rated for education and yet those schools steal lose players to schools I wont mention that are private, catholic etc. I know im old school for my age with everything I do and how I do it but i really miss just the times when you would grow up with whos around you and work hard at the sport your playing to improve daily to win. In our district and Im sure others as well but cant speak for them we have to work diligently all the way down to elementary (as HS coaches) to start coaching these kids up and preparing them to be able to compete and compete at a high level in HS. While you have these cherry picking schools that take your talent that you helped build when they are entering 9th and never worked with these kids at all.. maybe some others have some points that can help steer my thinking but I find it infuriating and to be honest coaching is fun I enjoy it and put a lot of work into it especially seeing development year to year. At the HS level just picking the best players from your area cheapens what I think it means to be HS coach but what do I know I could be alone with these sentiments
