... I agree you got to have them. In fact, my eldest sat out for half a season due to a transfer with no complaint, and my youngest son has a senior on his team who also sat out half the season without complaint. But the Jason Groome suspension just seems stoooooooooooooopid, at least if you believe how Baseball America is reporting it.
http://www.baseballamerica.com...#1rRcp5t4PqpxDgD6.97
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I'm guessing his parents did not make the move to FL with him? How is this stupid? I guess I'm not understanding...
What is sad is that he will more than likely never set foot on a college campus while those games his teammates played while he was pitching are forfeited.
I don't get how this is stupid either, maybe some think that rules just don't apply to them.
In reading several articles about this, the ruling seems to go against the spirit of why transfer rules were established in the first place. 2018's team has two kids that transferred in, and both just finished up their 30 days - that is fine, both kids changed schools within the same county - the decisions were sports related, and they sat out the 30 days without complaint.
In this case the kid transferred from an out of state sports factory at IMG back to his hometown to be with friends & family for his senior year. He absolutely changed residences from Florida to back home, but seemingly because his parents never went to Florida with him, he is being penalized for now coming back. Is it the letter of the law? Maybe. But the fact that he came back home from out of state is a legit transfer that involved a move. He wasn't just jumping to the school across the street to get more playing time.
The timing is also very suspicious. Reeks of a jealous parent or coach trying to get a leg up for a league or state title and trying to knock this player & team down a peg or two. To paraphrase Bad News Bears Breaking Training, "Let Him Play!".
I think the spirit of the rule is to keep schools from recruiting kids and to keep kids from transferring just for athletics. The parents have to part of the bonified move to make sure it is infact a legit move. It cant be a move where little johnny goes to live with aunt jenny (or an apartment or dorm) to be in the baseball power house's district. Which is exactly what happened. It wasn't a bonfied move at all. He moved there to play baseball and then changed his mind. In Alabama he would have to sit out a complete year.And I can tell you that the AHSAA would have done the same thing. This rule applies to every student from 7th grade up here. You would not believe the amount of recruiting that goes on in our area. Most of it is football related but it happens a lot in baseball also.
Here's the logistics surrounding this. If Groome and his parents moved to Florida to go to IMG, there would be no issue here. The rule being invoked involves him transferring schools without a change in address. Even though he went to a boarding school, his home address did not change. Because of this, the suspension was invoked. What is ridiculous about this is that the transfer was by no means recent. Baseball America reported the transfer back in JULY and he started the school year in Barnegat after spending just one semester at IMG. Why is this only becoming an issue two weeks into the season? The timing is what makes this seem a bit far fetched. The rule definitely is in place for good reason, but it can be better. One way to improve it is to allow for an appeal process to occur. The transfer to IMG was obviously for athletic reasons. But why must he be punished for going back home? And moreover, why did it only become an issue in the middle of the season? The NJSIAA could have handled this earlier and made it less of an issue. Also, if he were to appeal his case, the transfer suspension could be reasonably overturned, or at the very least reduced.
Wonder whose idea it was for him to go to IMG Academy.
Did the NJSIAA know about it earlier? Just about every recruiting/transfer violation I've heard about is reported to the state by someone. Maybe they didn't find out about it until recently? Usually the way I've seen these things happen is someone notifies the school via anonymous phone call or letter. The school must then "self report" to the state. The school tells the state that they are giving up their wins and making the athlete sit out required time. The state doesn't put the school on probation since they self reported. The anonymous letter writer doesn't have to get involved with state. I'm not saying that is how this situation happened but this is common in our state. And usually a violation is brought out right before playoffs.
What if the kid was transferring not to "play with his friends" but to stack a team with pitching and make a run at the state championship? How would you feel about it if you were the team that was favorites to win the area/district until he transferred in?
I agree with the state on this one. If you guys think this rule is going to far, go to the AHSAA website and read the stuff we have to follow here. It's over the top. And 30 days is nothing to sit out. Our athletes have to sit out 365 days. I'd be curious to know what other states rules are.
They couldn't do anything until he transfered back and played a game.
This, IMO falls on the coach. He should have made sure all was kosher.
PW posted:Did the NJSIAA know about it earlier? Just about every recruiting/transfer violation I've heard about is reported to the state by someone. Maybe they didn't find out about it until recently? Usually the way I've seen these things happen is someone notifies the school via anonymous phone call or letter. The school must then "self report" to the state. The school tells the state that they are giving up their wins and making the athlete sit out required time. The state doesn't put the school on probation since they self reported. The anonymous letter writer doesn't have to get involved with state. I'm not saying that is how this situation happened but this is common in our state. And usually a violation is brought out right before playoffs.
What if the kid was transferring not to "play with his friends" but to stack a team with pitching and make a run at the state championship? How would you feel about it if you were the team that was favorites to win the area/district until he transferred in?
I agree with the state on this one. If you guys think this rule is going to far, go to the AHSAA website and read the stuff we have to follow here. It's over the top. And 30 days is nothing to sit out. Our athletes have to sit out 365 days. I'd be curious to know what other states rules are.
Not to say this isn't the case, but it's a tad unique since he isn't new to the school. He only left for one semester and then he changed his mind and went back home. In CT where I go to school (its private, I live in NY), I've known two kids caught in a mid-season transfer scenario and both had never played at a public school. The first happened last year. A kid went from my private school to stay with a host family in NJ to attend Don Bosco Prep. However, the family had to move to California in the middle of football season, forcing him to go home and enroll in the local public school. He was immediately eligible since he transferred from a school in a non-competing league and it did not require a change in address. The second only happened a couple of weeks ago. One of the star players on my team withdrew the first week of the season since the school pulled his financial aid. He enrolled in the public school in his district and was immediately eligible as well since he came from a non-competing league and didn't need to change his address. Ironically, we scrimmaged the school he transferred to on his last day at our school (since he was withdrawing he sat on the bench and did not play). He enrolled there the next day and played his first game for them the very next week.
