The University Interscholastic League made a monumental and rather surprising announcement Tuesday, delaying the start of all fall activities for the state’s two largest rankings, including Texas high school soccer, by five weeks. The ad does not change the schedule for smaller ratings.
For class 6A and class 5A, UIL encouraged the start of practice, scheduled to start from August 3 to September 7. The first week of the Texas High School Soccer Games will now take place Sept. 24-26, four weeks after the original August. 27-29 start date.
This movement has a major impact on all extracurricular activities throughout the state of Texas, especially soccer. The playoffs for the two largest rankings, which were originally scheduled to start on November 12, will now begin on Thursday, December 3. The UIL State Championship games were scheduled for Dec. 16-19 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington; They are now moving to a TBD date in January.
However, for now, there are no classes 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A, which will continue as scheduled: practices will begin on August 3, games will begin from August 27 to 29, playoffs will begin on November 12, and State championships will remain scheduled for mid-afternoon. December.
It’s a surprising UIL announcement, which generally insists on treating all rankings equally.
Another wildcard in this scenario: UIL must navigate local entities that place stricter restrictions on things. For example: Hidalgo County (in the Rio Grande Valley) and the Houston Independent School District have mandated that in-person learning not begin until long after the start of Labor Day that UIL has implemented. In these two areas, extracurricular activities (including sports) cannot begin until in-person learning begins. Will these schools see an even shorter season (or possibly no season), or will school districts seek to relax those rules in practice during virtual learning sessions?
Looking at the athletic calendar as a whole, this UIL move to delay the start of the season may be the last move available to ensure a soccer season is played this school year. There may not be another chance to further delay the season; But due to the size of our state and the different conditions at individual locations, if the season progresses with its new start scheduled for September 7, there is a chance that some school districts may not be able to deploy soccer teams this year if the La local health situation shows no improvement.
The situation remains fluid and TexasFootball.com will continue to follow the story.
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