Tennis champ forgoes senior season in order to transfer

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears

VHONEYCUTT@HERALD-LEADER.COM

PABLO ALCALA

Emily Carbone won the state tennis tournament's girls' singles title last year. File photo by Pablo Alcala | Staff

The state's top-ranked tennis player did not defend her state singles title this year because of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association's transfer rules.

Emily Carbone sat out her senior year because she transferred from Lexington Christian Academy to Henry Clay High School. The transfer rules apply even though she's lived in Henry Clay's district since she was 2.

Under KHSAA rules, students cannot play for one year after moving from the school where they began the ninth grade -- even if the new school is in their home district.

Carbone said she transferred to Henry Clay to take part in a co-op program that let her work in the afternoons.

She was disappointed that she couldn't play, but she has a different take on it than many ineligible athletes. She did not appeal. She had already earned a tennis scholarship to the University of Arkansas before her senior year.

And Carbone, also the Kentucky Farm Bureau High School Athlete of Year, says she's not placing blame on the KHSAA: "I knew about the rules before I transferred."Choosing school over sport