The Ohio High School Athletic Association on Thursday upheld
The two girls’ families appealed a ruling made Jan. 31 that paperwork submitted to the OHSAA had false statements about the girls’ residency.
Tim Stried, spokesperson for the OHSAA, said today that the girls and their mothers moved to a residence in Beachwood and transferred to Beachwood High School from another school. Since their fathers did not move with them – and their parents are not legally divorced or separated – they did not meet the requirements to play this year.
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The OHSAA does not allow students to play sports for one year after a transfer unless they meet one of 12 exceptions, one of which being a “bona fide” move in which the whole family changes residence.
“It’s been a longtime bylaw that our schools asked for and adopted. That bylaw exists so that students cannot school hop and go from school to school to school and be eligible to play right away,” said Stried.
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The two girls are, and have been since the start of the school year, eligible to attend Beachwood High School.
The OHSAA voted 9-0 to deny both appeals filed by the two families.
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