Nobody said it.
Not one inductee added to the baseball or pro football halls of fame this summer said, “The reason I am here is because I transferred from one high school to another.”
Yet high school athletes and their parents, especially the parents, believe that transferring vastly improves the chances for a full-ride college scholarship, a place in the Olympics or a pro sports career.
The National Federation of State High School Associations, of which the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is a member, reports that almost 8 million high school students participated in high school athletics during the 2014-15 school year. The NCAA reports that only two percent of them received full college athletic scholarships.
Still, transferring is growing in popularity.
This past July, the CIF-SS office processed 200 transfer requests. In July of 2014, it processed 119 transfer requests. That is a 41 percent increase.
This past August, the section office processed 1,645 transfer requests. In August of ’14, it processed 1,266 transfer requests. That is a 23 percent increase.
Here in Orange County, there are seniors who are at their third or fourth high school. We’re not in the embarrassment business so we won’t mention names. Look at the rankings, of just about any sport, if you want an idea which schools could possibly be the more common transfer destinations.
Nothing against transfers and nothing against kids who live in one school’s attendance area attending a different school in a different attendance area. This is the United States. Freedom of choice should be accessible to all when it comes to choosing schools.
But school selection based solely or mostly upon access to college scholarships is very likely a mistake, as the National Federation and NCAA statistics prove.
No statistics prove that staying at the same school usually is a superior experience and often creates cherished memories and lifelong friendships. That is so obvious, no statistics are required.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• On a similar topic, kids and their parents should never ignore the quality of community college athletics and education. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not get recruited much at his Northern California high school, so he went to Butte Community College. He turned out OK.
• The CIF-Southern Section office has an opening for assistant commissioner. On the job posting, the first of the “essential duties” is “Review and determine eligibility status of student-athletes by interpreting/applying the rules defined in the CIF-SS Constitution and Bylaws …” Aaack!
• If you’re going to the Mission Viejo-La Habra football game tonight at La Habra High, get there early. Seating capacity is around 5,000. The visitor side capacity is around 1,200.
• Mission Viejo and Santa Margarita are expected to soon sign an agreement by which their football teams would play each other in 2016 and ’17.
• The first Anaheim vs. Santa Ana football game was in 1920. They meet again tonight, at Glover Stadium. Anaheim leads the series, 28-18-3.
• Fox Sports West should assign veteran play-by-play broadcaster Paul Westphal to an Orange County game every week on its TV and website coverage schedule. They have nobody there who matches Westphal’s knowledge of county football, past or present, or who knows county coaches as well as he does.
• There will be all sorts of 9/11 remembrances in football today. Dana Hills has a heck of a one planned for its home game against San Clemente: a Salute to First Responders, who will enjoy a pregame dinner compliments of El Torito Grill and free admission to the game. A flyover of local agencies’ helicopters occurs during the national anthem.
• Chris Zeller is Mission Viejo’s new boys basketball coach, pending school board approval. Zeller, who played at Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo, has been an assistant coach at Trabuco Hills in recent years. He was an assistant coach at Corona del Sol in Arizona while he was attending Arizona State.
• Orange Lutheran’s boys basketball team has several college prospects. Kavaughn Scott has official visits set up in coming weeks to Brown, Boston University and Yale; Zachary Jervis is being recruited by Concordia, Point Loma and Westmont; Chris Williams has offers from University of Texas-Arlington and Colorado State, and Joseph Riley is receiving interest from Bucknell and Fresno State.
• Servite basketball junior Jacob Hughes (6-foot-11) has offers from Air Force, Montana, Portland State and Washington State. Servite might have become stronger with the addition of 5-10 guard Otis Reale, who moved here from Rome. Reale speaks four languages and now is studying Mandarin.
• CAPrepZone.com’s online radio coverage of county football today includes Huntington Beach vs. JSerra, Mission Viejo vs. La Habra, and Godinez vs. Sunny Hills.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
