Dropped football team leaves players in limbo

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/09/2017 (3118 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Riley Mikkelson just wants to play high school football, but those plans might have been sacked for a loss.

Mikkelson, 17, a senior at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate, was planning on spending his final year suiting up for the Clansmen AAA team. But the program was cut last week due to a lack of players on the eve of the Manitoba High School Football League season, which opened Thursday.

Now Mikkelson is stranded. Manitoba High School Athletic Association policy doesn’t allow a student to attend one school and play sports for another — which was allowed for several years. And a change in policy in 2015 essentially prohibits a student from transferring to another school just for sports, even in the case of a folding program.

“I was pretty choked,” said Mikkelson, who played defensive back for the Clansmen. “It’s my senior season. I wanted to play my last season out of the school I’ve played for the last three years. I was looking forward to this season big time.”

The new policy was enacted by the MHSAA to address the trend of students transferring to join stronger programs in various sports, essentially stacking certain teams.

Chad Falk, executive director of the MHSAA, said two Murdoch MacKay students, including Mikkelson, have requested transfers in light of the Clansmen program folding. But their chances of playing high school football this season are bleak.

“Every year schools need to make a choice on what athletic programs they want to run with the resources they have within their community,” Falk said. “At the end of the day, we have to work collectively with our member schools to create the best school sport experience for all the students in Manitoba. It’s really unfortunate when a program folds and it happens at the last minute.”

A student can transfer, but is ineligible to participate in any sport they’ve previously played for one year. Some exceptions to transfers apply, such as students moving into a new catchment area or wishing to change to (or from) a French immersion school.

The application to play sports is made by the school on behalf of the student after he or she is accepted into the new school.

Falk said the MHSAA is dealing with up to 300 transfer applications this year, which are decided by an independent board. “I’m going through them every day right now,” he said.

A transfer application can be dealt with in a matter of days. If rejected by the board, the request can be appealed to another independent panel, in person. That process takes at least two or three weeks, Falk said.

Falk said the new policy was not just designed to ensure competitive balance.

“It was also about representing your school, playing along side your friends and playing in your own community,” he added. “That was a major theme behind the creation of this policy.”

However, Mikkelson said his transfer request had nothing to do with the level of competition, only to possibly catch on with the two nearest schools, Kildonan East or Garden City, which both have AAA football teams.

“In this case, I’m not chasing a championship,” he said. “I’m just trying to find a team to play for.”

Murdoch MacKay head coach Thomas Lang said Mikkelson was going to be the team’s No. 1 defensive back this season, and has scholarship potential.

Lang said he’s in agreement with the MHSAA transfer policy.

“It’s important,” he noted. “There’s a reason it’s there. But there needs to be a new rule for teams that fold. I mean, some of these kids have a real shot at getting a scholarship.”

Lorette’s high school football team (Single A) folded last year and players/students were in the same situation, Lang said, adding, “Now this has become a problem two years in a row.”

But MHSAA policy specifically states that the folding of a sports program is not grounds for a transfer. So Mikkelson could apply to transfer to another school, but there would be no guarantee he would be accepted, much less allowed to play football by the MHSAA.

Besides, Mikkelson’s father, Desmond Jones, said it wouldn’t be worth the gamble, since his son needs to take certain courses offered by Murdoch MacKay if he wants to eventually get accepted into dentistry school.

“Switching schools is not easy for him, especially at the start of the school year,” Jones said. “I’m not going to risk his school. Then what? He’s caught in the middle right now.”

Club football is an option, but the level of play is not as competitive as AAA high school programs, Jones said.

Further, the family has spent “hundreds of thousands” of dollars on training programs designed to attract scholarships – including camps in Las Vegas and Florida.

Money spent aside, Jones is frustrated that MHSAA policy designed for one issue (stacking programs) is hurting other students who had no choice in their current dilemma.

“Just let the kid play football,” the father said.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @randyturner15