New student-athlete transfer rule presented to the PIAA

A group representing many high school athletic directors around Pennsylvania presented a new studentathlete transfer rule to the PIAA Wednesday, and a special PIAA committee now will take the proposal under consideration.

The newly formed PIAA competition committee will examine the new rule that was drafted by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Directors Association. The PSADA group believes the current PIAA transfer rule is ambiguous and creates problems because it is enforced differently by districts across the state.

Under PSADA’s plan, a student-athlete would be automatically ineligible for a year of varsity sports if they transfer after the ninth grade, unless they meet one of five exceptions for a “bona fide” transfer. The transfer student would, however, be eligible to play junior varsity and ninthgrade sports.

The competition committee was formed by the PIAA in March to examine the competitive balance of high school sports and also to look at the transfer rule. The committee meets again in July.

North Hills athletic director Amy Scheuneman is a member of the WPIAL board of directors and was the PSADA representative who presented the new rule to the PIAA board of directors in Mechanicsburg.

“It seemed as though people around the room want to see some things cleaned up,” Scheuneman said. “I don’t know what will be kept from the proposal, but the competition committee will use this as one of the resources to come up with a new [transfer] proposal for the PIAA board.”

In other actions, the PIAA will no longer allow the use of shoulder pads in out-of-season activities for football teams. Players only can use helmets. The new rule goes into effect June 1. Also, in future girls golf championships, teams can use four or five players, but only three scores will count. In the past, four scores counted. The WPIAL, however, still will continue to use four scores in a match.