Homeschooler Participation in High School Sports

Participation in high school sports was the least of my concerns when I started homeschooling ten years ago. Some form of physical activity for my children was an important part of their curriculum and they started swim team, tennis lessons, soccer, softball and baseball. All of these sports were available through the community and the availability of school sports was irrelevant. However, when Kristina reached high school age she was interested in the high school tennis team experience and we explored her alternatives. The Redding school district required enrollment in the school or the district independent study program, which was set up for high school dropouts and mandated several hours of busy-work weekly. So we were faced with choices: The prison of school vs. ISP busy work vs. freedom. Kristina really wanted to play high school tennis and was willing to make the sacrifice. Even as the school added more and more onerous enrollment requirements she was willing to comply. She changed her mind when the high school tennis coach stated she could no longer train with her private coach in Sacramento during the season. The reality of the inflexibility of the program and the hostility to homeschoolers finally sunk in, and she decided that the negligible benefits of school sports were outweighed by the infringement on her freedoms.

Two years later, after we moved to Davis, Kristina reached the opposite conclusion. After encouragement from a local tennis coach and other homeschoolers who had participated in high school sports, we contacted the high school tennis coach and school counselor, Paul Oaks. He was very supportive of Kristina's choice to homeschool and her desire to play high school sports, and put her in touch with the Davis School for Independent Study (DSIS). She submitted a homeschool high school transcript to DSIS, explained her reasons for joining the program, and Kristina's high school tennis team experience began. DSIS understood homeschooling and unschooling, gave Kristina the flexibility to follow her own educational course within minimal guidelines, allowed her to continue to be in control of her education by taking DSIS, homeschool and community college courses, introduced her to a wonderful mentor, gave her the social experience of a team, and gave her the opportunity to play her last two years before college on a top-level high school tennis team. She ultimately graduated from our home-based private school and now attends the University of California, San Diego, where she plays college tennis. Derek is in his third year of swimming and Monika started her first year of water polo and swimming for Davis High School while attending DSIS during the sports season. They both take the minimum courses required, continue with their homeschool and community college classes, and will graduate from our home-based private school.

California Interscholastic Federation

Although we got radically different treatment from the Redding and Davis school districts, they were following the same rules. In order to compete in high school sports at a public or private high school, the student must fit into the eligibility requirements of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). High school sports programs are governed by CIF, a private nonprofit, voluntary association of public and private high schools organized under the direction of local school boards of education with the sanction of the California Education Code. Although each public school district governing board has general control over interscholastic athletic programs, California Education Code section 35179 provides that the governing boards may "enter into a voluntary association with other schools for the purpose of enacting and enforcing rules relating to eligibility for, and participation in, interscholastic athletic programs among and between schools." This provision gives schools the authority to join CIF, and conversely, gives CIF the authority over interscholastic athletic programs. California Education Code section 33353 describes the CIF as "a voluntary organization consisting of school and school related personnel with responsibility for administering interscholastic athletic activities in secondary schools." The CIF Bylaws, which are the rules that the schools must follow to remain eligible to compete in high school sports, specifically state: "Only students regularly enrolled in public and private CIF member schools, grades 9-12, shall be permitted to participate in the California Interscholastic Federation..." Since 1,265 California High Schools are members of CIF, the result is that homeschoolers must follow those rules in order to compete at the high school level.