A move to limit international students in high school athletics will not affect just a few students at Genesis Prep in Post Falls.

Try the whole student body.

Approved as a first reading at Wednesday’s Idaho High School Activities Board meeting was a motion to limit International Students (F1) to regular season games only, starting with the 2018-19 school year.

Among the hardest hit by the measure was Genesis Prep, where principal Chris Finch counts 17 international students who fall into this category, competing in either boys basketball or girls basketball.

“We had two international students on the boys team last year, and this year, I think we’ll have two again,” Finch said. “The rest of the guys are returning.”

Genesis Prep’s boys, in their second trip to state since becoming a full member of the IHSAA for the 2015-16 school year, won the state 1A Division II basketball title, beating Dietrich 68-62 at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. The team’s only losses came against 5A Coeur d’Alene, 3A Timberlake and at a tournament in Arizona over the Christmas holiday break.

Genesis Prep’s girls basketball team finished third at state, beating Nezperce in the program’s first trip to state.

Finch added that while nothing is official yet, the board could vote to approve the measure at the next meeting in September.

“They could approve it, or continue to discuss it,” Finch said. “Or they could just keep things the way they are.”

Finch estimates there are 150 international students attending schools in the state of Idaho. Sage International School in Boise is also a member of the association, fielding teams in cross country only.

“If you come into high school as a ninth-grader, you could do whatever and pick your school,” Finch said. “After that, under the transfer rule, you’ve got to play a year of JV (junior varsity). The way the rule is written, they’d have to sit a year and have a year at the varsity level. They’ve got three options, and I hope they choose the one that doesn’t punish the kids.”

Finch added that after the boys state title, IHSAA executive director Ty Jones began receiving phone calls about Genesis Prep.

In the case of the girls program, the move could make the difference between fielding a team for 2018-19, or not.

“It could result in us not having a team, or not having one at all,” Finch said. “We don’t have a girls JV team, and all of our girls make up the varsity team. They’ve been together quite a while and most of them will be juniors. We’re a tight-knit school, and we’re hoping all of them are here until they graduate.”