Hurdles appear on the way for student-athletes across the state of Georgia with plans to transfer schools.
The GHSA board of trustees approved new rules regarding transfers earlier this month with the rules also planned to be voted on in July before going into effect for the upcoming year in September.
Under the new guidelines, one bona fide transfer would be permitted between grades 9-12 without penalty, and if that athlete transfers a second time, they’d have to sit out a year.
In short, high school athletes who change schools twice after ninth grade would be ineligible for one year.
A bona fide transfer refers to a student athlete’s genuine transfer of address for academic, not athletic reasons. And even within that, more stringent rules would also be in place with further documentation needed for proof of residence.
“You have to look at it and see if it’s a legitimate move,” Jones County Schools athletic director Charles David said. “The GHSA wants to make it simple, you either make a bona fide move or you don’t…they’re doing all that they can to cut it out.”
Not only must documents such as a driver’s license, lease/rental agreement and a utility bill be provided, but utilities at the former address must be disconnected, rental/lease agreements with the prior address must be terminated and the names of both parents must be on the birth certificate of a student moving from one parent’s residence to another’s if they live in a different zone.
