COLUMBUS — It’s May. In the Ohio high sports world, that means tournaments in all four spring sports, leading to what area teams hope is a berth in the OHSAA State Tournament.

On the administrative side, however, it also means voting on OHSAA referendums.

Many years, the bulk of these are simply cleaning up language, minor revisions and/or simply solidifying something already in place.

This year, however, principals, who vote on these measures, would be well advised to do plenty of homework before returning their ballot to the OHSAA office because one of the issues, especially, could have some major ramifications for the landscape of prep sports.

Many — but not all — area administrators attended regional meeting last week, which was held in Cambridge and featured OHSAA Assistant Commissioner Dr. Deborah Moore, to be briefed on the specifics of the referendums.

The OHSAA — at the urging of the membership — has been proactive in dealing with transfers. The rule that says transfers, who do not meet one of the 11 exceptions are required to sit out the first half of the season, including scrimmages. For instance, in football, a player who transfers and doesn’t meet one of the exceptions is not eligible to join his team — in a game — until week six.

It’s been a rule that’s been well received and seemingly worked.

However, by permitting those players to participate in the second half of the season, they’re eligible for the tournament, too. While that’s a big deal in all sports, it’s even more of an issue in the team sports where each squad qualifies for the postseason.

For instance, if three all-state basketball players (gender is irrelevant) opt to join talents and transfer to ‘School B,’ those players would sit out the first 11 games and be able to play the second 11 and tournament. Obviously, every team qualifies for the basketball tournament. So, the question becomes, what’s the big deal about sitting out the first 11?

If the players sit out the first 11 and the team loses nine of those games, it has no bearing whatsoever on its ability to contend for a state championship. Those all-state players become eligible in — roughly — the early part of January and the team gets on a roll and goes on to win a district, regional or even state title. In essence, what’s the actual punishment for transferring?

So, in listening to its membership, the OHSAA’s Board of Directors has presented a possible change to the rule. Should Issue 4B receive a majority vote, the student-athletes who transfer and do not meet one of the exceptions, which include things such as change of residence, would be eligible to play in scrimmages and the first half of the season, but become ineligible for the second half of the permitted number of contests and — here’s the big part — the postseason, too.

“We want to responsible to our members and they’ve been telling us — for the last five years — that the first 50 percent of the transfer consequence is not suitable,” Moore said. “They’ve asked us to fix this, and that’s what we’ve tried to do.”

The OHSAA didn’t make this push simply because a handful of schools complained to its office. According to Moore, it consulted with coaches associations, the athletic administrators, superintendents and principals throughout the state before officially moving forward.

“We listened to those groups to craft something that would be more acceptable,” Moore said.

The main goal of this is rather simple. The OHSAA is trying to help do its part “to stem the tide of transfers,” according to Dr. Moore.

“We also would like to reduce the attractiveness of recruiting students because it’s not so great if you get to (go to a different school) and get to play in the tournament,” Moore said. “The tournament is what drives many of our transfers.”

This rule makes perfect sense and should pass in resounding fashion. Every area school — in my opinion — should be a ‘yes’ vote. First and foremost, state titles in our area are few and far between and there aren’t a lot of transfers without exceptions. So, why not make it even harder to accomplish?

The only hangups I have are in football because not every team makes the tournament and those first five games carry as much weight as the second half. And in wrestling because the team tournament is during the regular season.

“In sports like football, soccer and lacrosse when you have 11 people on the field at the same time, it’s not as easy to change your competitive production, if you will,” Moore said. “But, with a five-player sport like basketball or six-player sport like volleyball, it’s really easy. One or two players could definitely change the dynamic.”

For instance, should a team not have used half of the ’20 points’ it’s permitted by the time the OHSAA Team Tournament arrives in mid January, is the student-athlete still eligible? Or is he out for the team tournament, but becomes eligible again when that school returns to regular-season wrestling prior to the individual tournament beginning in mid February.

In case you’re wondering, each sport is permitted ‘X’ amount of contests by the OHSAA. For instance, baseball and softball both receive 27 games.

This has been an issue for area schools before because the team has to physically play its 13th game before the transfer student becomes eligible for game 14. Because if weather rears its ugly head and what was originally scheduled as as team’s 13th game becomes their ninth game, the transfer student still must continue to sit out.

Track and cross country are different animals because the state permits 16 meets. Very few teams schedule that many meets — especially in cross. But, a student-athlete must still sit out eight meets, which could mean an entire season.

At least with this new referendum would permit harriers and thinclads to participate up until meet eight, which may entail the bulk of the season.

To me, the schools who vote against this are the ones who benefit the most from transfers. It’s that simple. Stiffen the punishment and continue to balance the landscape of prep sports in the Buckeye State.