So I haven't blogged in a few months... Going back to school full time, working full time, and coaching has consumed my life from 4:30am-10:00pm to say the least. I like to think I'm a pretty busy individual and a lot of times I wonder why I do try to cram 100 different things into a 24 hour day but its because that's how I function best. I'm like Michelle, I do better under pressure and with my days scheduled out and jam packed.
A quick update on this post and whats brought it about... Lately I've had a lot on my mind and have been quite opinionated and writing really helps ease my thoughts. So here's the situation... In the state of Utah they're currently discussing this new transfer rule that would all together eliminate transfer rules. Right now in order to transfer high schools you have to go through a long process and sometimes, the transfer doesn't always get approved. Obviously moving into the school's boundaries is your best bet, but some kids try to switch schools without moving. There's nothing wrong with this, if its for the right reasons. Here's some situations just from within my own team:
1. I have kid on my team now who transferred to Mountain View last year. They live out of boundaries and to spare you the full details of the transfer, it was for 100% legit reasons, all being non-athletic. This is a hardship transfer (from my understanding, I could be wrong). She was enrolled at a different school, then transferred out of boundaries to another. As a coach, I lucked out on getting her to be a part of the team. As I said though, her reasons were legit. Some kids transfer to because of playing time, they think they're the star, they want to be the only star, and so naturally since the grass is greener on the other side ALWAYS (not really) they transfer. Simple truth to it all:
Legit reasons = Transfer approved.
2. I have another kid who moved from another state and enrolled at Mountain View. Guess what... her transfer got approved. She moved, literally moved across the country to Mt. View boundaries and enrolled at Mt. View as her first school. So yes, it was approved. The whole open enrollment thing is really enough I think. Kids can go to whichever school they want, as long as they start there from day 1. I have another kid who is out of boundaries but she attended the Jr. High that fed into Mt. View and now she's currently enrolled at Mt. View. Smooth and easy, no problems when you FOLLOW THE RULES for going to an out-of-boundary school.
3. I know of kids who started at an out-of-boundary school and ended up transferring to the school whose boundaries they actually live in. I had a teammate at Timpview who started at Centennial Middle School (Timpview's feeder school), attended Timpview, then transferred to Provo because she actually lived in Provo boundaries. Her transfer was approved.
All of these situations they followed the rules and look what happened, transfers were granted. Yes I am a high school coach and I have transfers and out-of-boundary kids, but they did it the right way. I won't lie, at one point of my high school career I thought it would be so fun to transfer to Lone Peak or Skyline and play ball with my club ball teammates. We all did summer ball together and we all wanted to win state; therefore, transferring would guarantee more fun and a state championship... right? False. When I asked Michelle she literally laughed at me. Just laughed and told me no and that I was staying at Timpview. My stupid 15-yr-old mind really thought that transferring was going to solve all my dreams and goals. As it turns out... I spent more than half of high school on crutches, still won a state championship, still won region championships, and still went to college on a D1 scholarship. Steve has been a college coach forever and has seen it all. He's a great mentor to me as far as dealing with kids and pares and he always tells me two things:- If you're good enough, the colleges will find you. If they don't, what does that say? Well, you probably need to go spend some time in the gym.
- Work hard and humbly, then let your play do the talking.
I hear of so many kids transferring because they aren't getting playing time, they want to be the star, the coach is rude to them. Frankly if a team is winning, you're getting playing time, and you're filling a stat sheet why transfer? Because you want to win state? Because you're not THE star, you're A star, but you're not THE star? As a coach I want loyal kids who want to win; who care more about the Wins and Losses column as opposed to their own stat line. Being on the star on a team who's 2-19 says something too. Going to a high school with a power house football team people always complained about Timpview recruiting. Just in my 4 years there lets talk about the top kids who were in boundary kids: Harvey Unga, Stephen Paea, Stephen and Britain Covey, the Reynolds brothers, the Bills brothers, and my personal favorites the Kaufusi brothers. All these boys were Timpview boundary kids. It's fun looking at pictures of Corbin and Bronson from flag football up to their state championship teams. Why? Well, the kids who won it are the kids they grew up with.
Lets say they pass this ridiculous rule, no more transfer rules. So lets make a bet. I bet every football player is going to want to transfer to Bingham or Timpview, every boy basketball player is going to want to transfer to Lone Peak, and every girl soccer player is going to want to go to Davis. Every good athlete is going to want to go to the top school in their sport. Some schools will drop in enrollment, and high school coaches will be stuck coaching virtually a club team; A team of All-Stars pulled from all over. If I wanted to coach a club team I would, but I don't. I enjoy high school sports. I enjoy the concept of a team, the concept of winning, of building a program. I did club ball and it brought great memories. None of which are documented. There's no building with banners for your club ball achievements. There's no newspaper articles about winning some random tournament in Portland that one summer. In high school if you win you get the banner hung in the school, you get the trophies, you get your name in the paper, etc. You can't take that away. You look on college athlete's profiles and it usually doesn't mention the club team you played for. It does mention your high school team. As Urban Meyer puts it, "What means something is the recommendation of the high school (football) coach." I think I speak for all high school coaches in Utah when I say we don't want to coach a club team.
Utah high school sports need to be kept the way they are, ok maybe a shot clock is desperately needed, but transfer rules are there for a reason. I'm sure the people who want this are the charter schools who are recruiting the 5A and 4A kids (how many violations have they already had?), and the parents and kids who think they're some grand exception to the rules. If I have the choice to go to a 2A charter school and a 5A public school and I have some promising athletic ability you better believe I'm going to the 5A school. Nothing against smaller schools or charter schools they serve their purpose, but yes if my parents had sent my brothers and I to a smaller school we would look like all stars too. Accept the challenge high school sports and bigger schools bring. Going 15 and 10 against a fellow 4A team looks a lot better than going 30 and 20 against 2A teams.
At the end of the day, open enrollment gives you the freedom to start where you want. If you have legit reasons to transfer and you take it to the board they're going to approve it. If your reasons aren't and the motivation behind the transfer isn't reasonable (aka athletics) then maybe you need to take some advice from my Dad and go spend more time in the gym. Fingers crossed they leave high school sports the way they are. 