made the right decision to allow transfers

[9/8/05]

After so many consecutive misses, the Mississippi High School Activities Association has scored a touchdown.

The governing body for state public high school athletics has made decisions in the past that have left coaches, fans and followers scratching their heads in disbelief.

The changing of the baseball playoffs to include 24 of the 32 Class 5A teams in the postseason will rank among the association’s biggest gaffes.

Not only did the association make the changes without a solution, when they did make a decision, it screamed of lunacy. Eight three-team playoff series will be played with the second- and third-place teams from one division traveling to play the first place team in another.

The logistics of trying to organize a sensible playoff plan for 24 teams should have been enough to derail it.

Coaches in South Mississippi – a hotbed for baseball in this state – led the charge.

The baseball debacle will go down as the zenith of the MHSAA’s decison-making inability.

However, the association made a correct call, and a swift one, when it allowed displaced student-athletes from Louisiana to participate in athletics at their new schools.

Vicksburg High had seven players come out Tuesday to meet coach Alonzo Stevens. St. Aloysius had three players from Brother Martin in New Orleans. Porters Chapel and Warren Central did not have any, as of Wednesday.

“We welcome them,” VHS coach Alonzo Stevens said. “These kids have been through so much, it is important for us to make them a part of the Gator family.”

With high school football such a fabric of the lifestyle in this part of the country, it would have been cruel not to let these young men play ball.

Many, like Ryan Walker who lived in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, has no clue what to expect if he returns to the Big Easy. His house, he said, is under water.

Walker and others met with coaches Tuesday, mostly getting acquainted with coaches and new teammates.

It’s something these young men need right now. High school players have one goal in mind after the final whistle of the final game of each season – looking toward the next season.

For so many whose lives have been forever altered, next season will again be a reality.

The MHSAA, so often linked with decisions that defy common sense, should be applauded for its decision.

For a change, it was the correct one.