LaurenHicks

Every fall semester you hear about it, you read about it, you fear it. The transfer portal. Your chemistry lab partner could be sitting next to you one day and then be the star athlete at another school the next.

Nebraska was one of the first states to introduce open enrollment, which means students can transfer to schools outside their home districts. 

“There are 308 high schools in Nebraska and students transfer all the time,” Jennifer Schwartz, Executive Director of the Nebraska Schools Activities Association (NSAA), said. “There are schools ranging in size from 18 to 2,000 kids. They are all being affected.”

Schwartz said the NSAA does not track how many students transfer between schools due to the mere amount of those who do.

However, by transferring to a new, established school, athletes leave behind growing programs. 

After winning the state championship in 2022, the Marian Softball program saw a hard reset. Formerly being dependent on upperclassmen talent, coaches were now looking to rising sophomores and juniors to lead the team.

One of these new, upcoming athletes in the program was Emily Berthelsen, who is now a senior. Being a member of the junior varsity team when varsity won state, she said watched the development happen before her own eyes and saw how the team has changed over the past few years.

Since Berthelsen started at Marian, there have been six transfers, both in and out, for softball alone, not to mention two that were already on the team her freshman year.

 “We get lots of different people and definitely a lot of talent through our transfers,” Berthelsen said.

Berthelsen said she believes that transfer athletes can bring a lot of benefits to a program, such as more diversity, playing styles and personalities.

Transfer athletes bring many positives, but they can also have a few downsides. In Berthelsen’s time, there have been two athletes who have only stayed for a year, disrupting the natural flow of the program. New players get filled into roles that could’ve been given to younger talent, developing in the school’s JV program. Then, when they leave, the spot opens up again but the younger girl may no longer want it. It becomes difficult for coaches to plan for the years ahead, assessing current talent and seeing roles still need to be filled.

“They put a lot of effort into their varsity,” Berthelsen said, “and not enough into the younger kids who aren’t supported and built up.” 

Now, with the senior class graduating, Marian Softball will have six vacant spots to fill. With a change in coaching, the changes that Berthelsen wants may be possible.

“You need fair coaching at the reserve/JV level. If we put more effort into our younger teams, it will feed better later on,” she said.

Many students leave the school, disgruntled with how their season went or not getting enough playing time.

“If you are coming to Marian to play a sport, you are coming for the wrong reason.” Berthelsen said.

Soledad Peralta is one of these girls who left, unhappy with the basketball program.

“I came to Marian mostly for basketball,” Peralta said. “I had talked to all the coaches and did Junior Crusaders.” 

Once she started, Peralta said she was upset with the coaching staff so she decided to transfer her junior, moving to Mercy High School, just down the road. Since then, Marian Basketball has had coaching changes with math teacher Eric Thompson now leading the team.

Though, by moving to a new school, Peralta left behind close friends, hours spent in different activities and cherished traditions. During her freshman year, she had been voted in by her classmates to be a class officer, being trusted enough to be one of six to represent her class. Peralta also participated in Speech, Track and Field and World Language Club.

She said found the process of transferring to be easy, only needing a few documents to do so.

“You have to submit a form to the NSAA and get all your paperwork submitted to your new school. After that, you have to wait until May 1 to see if your name made the transfer list. If it did, you are eligible for the next year,” Peralta said.

One of the few stipulations that the NSAA has on transfer athletes is the 90-day policy, where players have to sit out on 90 days of varsity competition, and that is only if they don’t make the deadline of May 1, making it unchallenging to switch between schools. According to the NSAA, student-athletes are only allowed to this transfer one time without penalty. If a student-athlete decides to transfer again, they have to sit out the 90 days. An easy price to pay for a starting position at another school, especially for those in spring sports.

Peralta is now a starting player for the Mercy Basketball team and what could’ve been her spot on the Marian team is now filled by another transfer athlete.

On the other hand, transferring from larger schools to smaller ones can positively affect growing programs.

 Marian junior Sadie Klinetobe started her high school softball career at Millard North. Millard North is excellent at softball and her hitting coach was the head coach there.

“I was bred to go there,” Klinetobe said.

Even though she liked how diverse the school was, Klinetobe had a hard time adjusting to a school so big.

”It was really hard to get involved,” Klinetobe said. “I didn’t know how to join any clubs.”

She decided to shadow at Marian during her first semester of her freshman year, just to see what it would be like. Many of her friends already went here and she had connections in the softball program.

“I went and I shadowed and I loved it,” Klinetobe said. “It was perfect for sports, school, clubs and everything else I need.”

”I love my teammates and their uplifting atmosphere,” Klinetobe said.

During the 2025 fall softball season, Klinetobe led her team as starting pitcher with 55 strikeouts.

She is also now involved with Young Medicine Club, Peer2Peer, Ambassadors, Paw Project, and CEOs.

New talent is great for any high school program but losing it will stunt the growth of developing programs, leading them to a never-ending of gaining and losing athletes.