transfer rules

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

CIF-SS News: Transfer Rule Clarification
From The Commish--(May 14, 2002)

We've been responding to many questions lately posed on the message board about the "new" CIF-SS transfer rules. And apparently, we've either been reading the Blue Book a bit too literally, or just didn't see what the CIF-SS intended, and in the process of answering some questions, we've given out some slightly inaccurate information. Not completely bad info, but sufficiently wrong that Paul Castillo, Assistant Commissioner of the Southern Section wrote to us to clarify the rule and how it will be administered (see below).

It had been our understanding that with the new rule, which will become effective in the 2003-2004 academic year, students who transfer from School A to School B who wish to have continuing varsity eligibility at School B have to make a "bona fide" residence change.

It seems that's correct.

However, it was also our understanding that this aspect of the rule was only applicable for those players who wished to have "continuing" varsity eligibility, i.e., that it only applied to those players who had actually competed at the varsity level at School A and who wished to continue to do so at School B. In other words, we had assumed, based on the literal reading of the transfer eligibility bylaws, that the new rule would not apply to students who had not competed at the varsity level at their old school, e.g., frosh-soph, or JV players.

Wrong.

We received an e-mail from Paul Castillo, the Assistant Commissioner of the Southern Section for Basketball and he notes that the CIF-SS is interpreting the rule change to be applicable to all transfers who seek varsity eligibility at their new school, regardless of what level they competed at their old school. Here's the text of Mr. Castillo's e-mail:

I just wanted to help clear up one of the misunderstandings concerning the transfer rule. If a student transfers without a bona fide change of address, he/she will be restricted to non-varsity competition for one year from the date of transfer, for any sport in which he/she competed during the prior twelve months, regardless of level. Therefore, a player who played at any level (Fr., JV, Var.) of basketball during the prior year at School A, who transfers to School B without moving will be restricted to non-varsity play for one year.

There you have it, straight from the powers-that-be, and you can't ask for a clearer, cleaner explanation of the new transfer rule and how it will be applied.