One of the great weekend fitness events in the state takes place in downtown Wheeling on May 23-24. The annual Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend, presented by WVU Medicine kicks off on Saturday morning May 23, at 7:10 am with the Half Marathon Run; 7:12 am Half Marathon Walk; 7:40 am 5K Run; 7:50 am 5K Walk; 8:15 AM Ogden Fun Run; 10:30 AM Tiny Tot Trot; 11:00 AM 5K Awards Ceremony; 11:15 am Rover on the River / Dog Walk; 11:30 am Half Marathon Awards Ceremony

Sunday starts off with the ‘ Bike Tour’ at 7:30 am. Presented by the Ohio Valley Trail Partners. The 19th annual bike tour will test the endurance of the most elite athletes, and offers three distances to choose from.

At 12:00 pm the annual Tough As Nails Challenge gets underway. The event is presented by The Health Plan and winds its way up, down and through the city streets of Wheeling covering more than five miles of body-breaking urban terrain, where competitors will scale flood walls, climb obstacles and claw their way up impossible inclines. The event has 20 plus obstacles, 1200 plus steps and over five miles.

There will be plenty of entertainment for everyone. The Bar opens at 7:30 am on Saturday and music will be provided by a DJ. Sunday the bar opens at 9:00 am and music will start at 12:00 pm by Eli and the Mojo Kings. This is a great event that draws hundreds of people from all over. Come out and enjoy a weekend of fun and fitness. It’s a well organized event with fun for all, you don’t want to miss it!

Now to something a little less organized! I’m trying to understand the new high school sports transfer rule. The WVSSAC Board of Control recently announced new rules to govern high school athletics in West Virginia.

I remember back several years ago when this was a hot topic and people were threatening lawsuits over athletes transferring to other schools for athletic purposes. Parents, coaches, and school officials were all upset and at some point the state got involved and took over the decision making.

In any event the recent repeal concerning transfers cleared the way for the WVSSAC to officially announce transfer guidelines through its established rule-making process, which led to the ‘Board of Control’ approving 147-0 a rule that they say preserves school choice for students and families while providing structure to support competitive balance among member schools.

It’s a tough one to figure out! This new transfer rule states a student is eligible for a one-time transfer during the ninth or tenth grade with immediate eligibility, provided the transfer is completed on or before September 1. A student who transfers during an active sports season retains immediate eligibility in all sports except the sport in which the student has already participated that season. The part which says ‘That Season’ throws me off as does the part that says “among member schools’. It throws me off because if you transfer before September 1, what sport could you have participated in that season. Maybe it’s just me, but if you fully understand it you’re part of a select few!

Here is some more confusion. Students are also entitled to one transfer back from a school located outside of their attendance zone where the (student resides) into a member school located within the attendance zone where the (student’s parents reside). Are you confused yet? If not hang on you will be.

What does that mean when it says where the student resides and then says where the student’s parents reside?

Here’s some more. The school must be the ‘home’ school originally identified or selected as the ‘home’ school in the initial enrollment in the out of attendance zone school. And again they throw in the September 1, clause.

If the transfer occurs during the remainder of the academic year the student will be ineligible for the remainder of that academic year and will gain eligibility after the end of that academic year, providing they meet the specified GPA requirements. “OKAY” wow.

Now on top of adding the GPA requirements, they throw in an escape clause via an appeal for a waiver with the WVSSAC Board of Directors, which means a student can probably do whatever and if it doesn’t line up with what this means, they can just appeal.

This is certainly not the perfect solution, but I guess it’s a start, one that might provide a certain degree of balance and fairness, although it sounds more like it was set up to fail. And, don’t forget it also applies to hope scholars, homeschool students, micro school students, learning pod students, and charter public school students, none of whom are WVSSAC school members as far as that goes, I don’t think!

I would prefer they just go back to ‘old school’ and where you live is where you play. In those days you didn’t venture far from home without answering to the kids in your community, and that was something you didn’t want to do. That was back when rivalries really meant something and you joined in with your buddies and worked your tail off all year long to make your school the best.

“Once again, we are very grateful for the support of our legislature and the governor throughout this entire process,” said Wayne Ryan, WVSSAC Executive Director. “We appreciate their trust in the WVSSAC and its member schools on this matter.”

Oh Boy!