Utah proposes ban on worldwide college students in highschool sports activities

MIDVALE — When Layton Christian beat Cottonwood for the 4A boys state basketball championship in February, three of the 4 prime scorers for the Eagles in that title sport had been worldwide college students, together with the match MVP – however a brand new rule beneath proposal now might have prevented that consequence.

If accepted, the proposed new rule earlier than the Utah Excessive College Actions Affiliation would bar worldwide college students from taking part in varsity sports activities at any program within the state subsequent 12 months.

What the proposal says

The brand new guidelines, that are at the moment only a proposal from UHSAA’s Structure and By-laws Committee, try and cope with what the affiliation, some coaches and fogeys see as a rising downside – worldwide college students attending Utah faculties on F-1 visas and taking part in highschool sports activities.

The rule doesn’t change participation pointers for college students attending faculties on J-2 visas. Sometimes, these college students come by means of Worldwide Scholar packages with little or no say over which faculties they attend.

Nevertheless, those that come on F-1 visas can select the place they go. An investigation by KSL revealed plenty of faculties accepting, and probably recruiting, worldwide college students to Utah faculties primarily based on athletic talent. Not solely is athletic recruiting strictly forbidden by UHSAA guidelines, accepting college students or permitting transfers primarily based on athletic alternatives can be in opposition to present guidelines.

However enforcement of these guidelines has come beneath scrutiny as a number of non-public faculties, together with Layton Christian, boast rosters with a number of worldwide student-athletes, most of these both starters or impression gamers.

Do Utah faculties recruit worldwide college students?

UHSAA legal professional Mark Van Wagoner mentioned the proposed rule change got here because of info the workers started receiving within the fall of 2023. Then, in January, a bunch of coaches despatched a letter by means of an legal professional providing UHSAA ‘proof of recruiting’ by Layton Christian. That proof included social media posts claiming at the least one present participant and a former participant had ‘accepted scholarships to play basketball’ on the non-public college that has received boys’ basketball state titles in 4 classifications.

The coaches requested an investigation into the difficulty, and Van Wagoner confirmed {that a} monthslong investigation is ongoing.

“In November 2023, the Utah Excessive College Actions Affiliation grew to become conscious of knowledge plausibly suggesting that some members of the affiliation had been recruiting overseas college students for athletic groups,” Van Wagoner mentioned in a press release. “Subsequently, the affiliation acquired additional info from member faculties, concerned people, coaches, gamers, and the media that led the affiliation to open an investigation into what seems to be widespread recruiting at some member faculties.”

UHSAA and KSL examine

KSL has been investigating this difficulty for practically two years. We revealed our first story involving points at Juan Diego, a 5A non-public college, final month.

KSL discovered a number of college students who mentioned they’d accepted athletic scholarships, however in addition they bumped into points with a haphazard system for housing and maintaining monitor of recruited college students. Within the wake of that story, extra individuals got here ahead to speak with KSL and UHSAA.

Van Wagoner mentioned UHSAA’s management is worried about plenty of points. They embody the shortage of oversight for worldwide student-athletes in Utah, and the way recruiting gamers from around the globe might diminish alternatives for native college students.

“The alleged recruiting of overseas gamers seems to have restricted the chance for Utah gamers to take part,” he mentioned, “these college students having been changed by worldwide college students recruited, particularly for sports activities. Moreover, recruiting at all times upsets aggressive steadiness.”

What we have realized, what occurs subsequent

As a part of the investigation, Van Wagoner mentioned UHSAA workers started trying into how different state highschool associations deal with worldwide college students in sports activities and located Utah to be a little bit of an outlier. In keeping with his assertion:

“The board additionally realized that the overwhelming majority of state associations restricted worldwide college students to solely sub-varsity play. This mixture of things, notably the usage of worldwide teams to put overseas gamers with member faculties created a menace to UHSAA truthful competitors and to Utah student-athletes. It was an unprecedented state of affairs.”

That unprecedented state of affairs led to the proposed rule adjustments.

“Consequently, the board took instant motion to alter the affiliation’s bylaws to evolve to different state associations and restrict worldwide college students to sub-varsity solely. Additional, the board requested that the investigation into this systemic recruiting proceed and that hearings be carried out as quickly as moderately doable.”

Varsity sports activities at Layton Christian

A few week earlier than this rule change, Layton Christian directors requested to maneuver to a bigger classification, however solely in boys basketball. That might place the varsity in 4 completely different classifications in varied sports activities. The request was denied; the affiliation’s government committee informed college officers they wanted to make that request throughout realignment when all faculties are topic to new areas and classifications.

By the way, Layton Christian’s championship this 12 months was its seventh. They moved to 4A in boys basketball earlier than the 2022-23 season, and this system grew to become the primary since 1973 (when Utah faculties had been divided into population-based classifications) to win state titles in 4 completely different classifications.

One other Utah non-public college with worldwide college students on the roster – Decide Memorial Catholic Excessive College – received the 3A boys basketball championship. It was Decide’s first boys basketball title since 2008.