The Interscholastic League of Honolulu might lose many of its best soccer players this season pending interpretation of a rule prohibiting "outside participation."

According to the rule as stated in the league's bylaws, soccer players are among those "not allowed outside participation during their ILH sport season, beginning with the starting date of that sport."

Many of the league's top players belong to club teams that will enter national tournaments in San Diego over Thanksgiving weekend — several weeks after the official starting date for ILH soccer practice. For girls, the tournament is called the "Surf Cup." The boys tournament is called "Nomads."

Each is regarded as one of the top five youth tournaments in the nation, attracting hundreds of teams and — more importantly — dozens of college coaches offering athletic scholarships.

But as the ILH rule now stands, playing in the Surf Cup or Nomads would constitute "outside participation" and would make any participant ineligible for league play.

Iolani senior Alana Wall, who was slated to be a co-captain for the Raiders, already has decided she will play in the Surf Cup. Wall's father, Roger, said the college coaches recruiting her clearly stated their desire to watch her play in person at the San Diego tournament.

"She struggled with the decision, but she's mentioned that as the driving factor," Roger Wall said. "She didn't want to have regrets about the coaches not seeing her play."

At least eight other girls and seven boys on ILH teams — most of whom would be considered key starters for their schools — have been faced with the same decision the past few weeks.

Punahou senior Sophie Merrifield, who returned yesterday afternoon from official recruiting visits to Dartmouth and Yale, said she still is undecided about the Surf Cup but needs to make up her mind soon because of travel arrangements during a busy Thanksgiving weekend.

"It's tough because I've played for Punahou three years and we've won three state championships, and this is our year to be seniors," said Merrifield, a second-team Advertiser All-State defender last season. "But there's issues for me club-wise, too. I went to Surf Cup last year and our goalkeeper (Iolani's Kiani Wong) ended up getting an offer to play for New Mexico. I think they should be happy if we can get scholarship money. I think the rule should be changed because it's hurting the girls."

Several of the club players' parents have signed a letter that was sent to ILH officials explaining why they believed the athletes should be able to participate in the San Diego tournaments without forfeiting their high school eligibility.

ILH president Rich Schaffer, the principal at Mid-Pacific Institute, said he has read the letter and plans to discuss it with other principals and athletic directors. He said if necessary he will call an emergency meeting to review the rule and possibly make an exception for the Surf Cup and Nomads.

"I am sympathetic to the parents' concerns and will possibly pull a meeting together to see if (the athletic directors and principals) will reconsider," Schaffer said. "We have a Hawai'i High School Athletic Association meeting (today) and I'll run this by the other leagues and maybe get some reiteration on their policies. But I'm not saying anything is absolute."

Punahou girls coach Jorge Barbosa said the ILH's outside participation rule has been on the books for a while, but schools previously were allowed to make their own decisions on players participating in the Surf Cup and Nomads.

Barbosa said after last year, however, one school convinced the majority of league athletic directors to determine that the two tournaments do not fall under the exceptions for a "national championship event." As popular and respected as the Surf Cup and Nomads are, they technically are not "national championships" because there is no competitive elimination process in order to qualify.

Also, Schaffer said, there were concerns about "opening the floodgates" to other tournaments that might interfere with the ILH season or state tournament.

"There were also concerns about allegiance (to the school team vs. the clubs)," Schaffer said.

Bill Meheula, a director for the Bulls club program whose son plays for Mid-Pacific, said there is no tug-of-war that the ILH should be worried about.

"The club has been advising kids to play for their high schools," Meheula said. "But I think it's unfortunate that now this rule is making them choose."

Ken Perske, the Bulls club president and a team manager, said his son Scott had to make that choice last year and opted to forgo his junior season at Iolani after winning two varsity letters because the school would not allow him to play both in Nomads and for the Raiders.

Ken Perske said Scott already has committed to play in Nomads again.

"He's looking to the future, and (playing in) Nomads gives him the opportunity to be seen by up to 300 coaches," Ken Perske said. "Some people think the Bulls are against the high schools, but that is not the truth. There is value in playing for your school, and this (letter) is not a vindictive thing — it's an awareness thing."

Roger Wall said Hawai'i players are at a disadvantage because there aren't as many opportunities here to be scouted by college coaches.

"This is not just about my child; it's about giving all of our kids every opportunity to be seen," Wall said. "For a lot of schools, (Thanksgiving) is a key time for recruiting, and for the juniors it's the start of the process. There was a lot of conversation among parents over the past year and we were concerned about the impact (of the ILH rule). We felt the letter could add to the process by presenting all the information."

Wall said the kids' decision is "a tough one, because they feel like they don't want to let anybody down."

Merrifield said she hopes the ILH officials "look into it and see where we're coming from."

Barbosa, who also coaches with the Leahi club program, said he sees both sides of the issue.

"Statistically, only a small percentage of players will be given scholarships at these tournaments and sometimes parents and kids lose sight of that," Barbosa said. "But there's always that outside chance and we don't want to take that away from them. It can hurt the kids if they don't play (high school soccer) and it would hurt the league because it will be watered down without the best players.

"Maybe they should decide it on a case-by-case basis, instead of one flat rule for everybody. But whatever they do, they should sit down and decide what is best for the kids."

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.