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Lately, many topics the WIAA executive director planned to discuss — such as transfer rules, the impact of open enrollment and litigation in other states — have become the fodder for daily dialogue around the WIAA water cooler.
So while none of the action items on Wednesday’s agenda figured to rock the WIAA landscape, what Chickering had to say should have reminded his audience these are defining times, indeed, for prep sports.
“It’s a critical time,” Chickering said earlier this week.
A change to the WIAA transfer rule, set to go into effect this fall, is at the heart of this uneasiness.
It will impose one year of athletic ineligibility for any student who transfers after four consecutive semesters at one high school without a “total change in residence.” In other words, any athlete looking to switch schools — and still looking to sleep in the same bed — must do so before becoming a sophomore or spend a year on the sidelines.
Sound harsh? Some say it might not be harsh enough and, in time, the WIAA will need to consider applying the rule to incoming freshmen to keep them from testing the transfer waters after their first year.
Others are worried someone will find a way around the transfer rule and that others will follow.
After all, a rule is only as good as the first loophole someone finds in it. And the WIAA can’t afford its transfer rule to be anything other than air-tight because it has many other issues hanging in limbo.
Divisional placement of private schools is one of those issues.
If tougher transfer rules restrict the movement of students with sports topping their agenda, it might quiet those who believe private schools’ enrollment should be padded before they are assigned to divisions for postseason play. That’s the hope of Chickering and the rest of the WIAA staff, who are as concerned about emerging charter schools and other potential “prep sports factories” as they are about private schools with a tradition of success.
And just when Chickering felt like the WIAA had its collective arms around its most pressing issues, litigation around the country has put a few more to the radar.
In Michigan, recent U.S. Supreme Court action will force that state to change when it sponsors certain sports — all in the name of gender equity. And it could force states like Wisconsin to switch certain sports to common — or preferred — seasons for the same reason.
And just last week, arguments in a 10-year-old court case in Tennessee gave Chickering cause for worry.
It stemmed from a 1997 letter that Brentwood Academy sent to a dozen eighth-graders, inviting them to a spring football practice, and led to charges of recruiting against the private school. But Brentwood — claiming the letter is protected under the First Amendment — has challenged the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will have the final say in the matter.
If it sides with the school, the most recent winner in the appeals court, attorneys for the TSSAA are convinced it will change the landscape across the country.
“I don’t know how in the world any of these associations can continue to operate if that is the standard,” Rick Colbert, an attorney for the TSSAA, told The Associated Press. “There’s no way for them to prevent recruiting if recruiting speech has to be permitted.”
That was part of the message Chickering planned to share with the delegates to the WIAA annual meeting Wednesday. These are critical times for the WIAA and these are critical issues that won’t go away.
Rob Hernandez covers prep sports for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison
