High School Athletes Can Now Switch Schools for Sports

High school students in California can now openly transfer to different schools just to play sports. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) changed its rules last year to allow this. Before, students had to keep quiet about switching schools for athletic reasons. Now they can be honest about wanting to join better teams.

Santa Ana Mater Dei has become the center of this movement. The school attracts top athletes from all over the state. It's like a sports academy for high school students. When 2017 ended, 54 students had transferred to Mater Dei just for sports.

The school's football team recently won a national championship with a perfect 15-0 record. Now they've added sophomore quarterback Bryce Young from Los Angeles Cathedral. Young is considered one of the best young players at his position. He joins other star players who left their old schools to play at Mater Dei.

Young announced his decision on Twitter, saying he wanted to compete at the highest level. Sean Dollars, another transfer student, explained his move differently. He said he wanted to play on the biggest stage possible. Both players believe Mater Dei gives them the best chance to win a national title.

The CIF made this rule change partly because of expensive lawsuits. Schools were challenging the old transfer rules in court, which cost a lot of money. Interestingly, Mater Dei was involved in one of the key lawsuits that led to these changes. In 2010, the school sued when two of its transfer students were declared ineligible.