UIL to use professional leagues as guide
Executive director: No activities before other groups resume
The University Interscholastic League passed a resolution Friday to temporarily expand executive director Charles Breithaupt’s authority on issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move could lead to relaxed restrictions on summer conditioning, which Breithaupt said the league hopes student-athletes and coaches can start soon, but not if professional sports leagues and other entities remain suspended.
“We’re not going to start any practices in the summer until we see that the National Football League, college football, the NBA, Major League Baseball — any of the pro sports — none of those have resumed play,” Breithaupt said during a legislative council meeting conducted through Zoom on Friday. “In fact, I saw yesterday that Little League Baseball canceled their August championships, the Little League World Series. That tells you across the world activities have been canceled so we’re not the only one.”
With the UIL’s spring sports season officially canceled for the rest of the school year on April 17, Breithaupt said the league’s focus is on the 2020-21 season. The UIL is planning around every outcome the virus could bring this summer and fall, including making plans for both the normally scheduled start of school and delayed start as well as the possibility of school starting but having to stop again.
The resolution grants Breithaupt additional authority to make adjustments as needed related to the pandemic only. Changes, which also could include scheduling adjustments for various fall sports and activities like football, will be communicated with the council.
The UIL already took steps toward altering summer training last year by allowing each sport two hours a week of sport-specific training between student-athletes and high school coaches, not to exceed one hour a day.
The rule was welcomed by football coaches, for example, whose athletes can be ahead of schedule and more prepared for fall practice. The move even replaced spring football practice in some places.
UIL deputy director Jamey Harrison noted the significant time missed between athletes and coaches since the outbreak.
“I expect to see some significant alteration to coaching restrictions, specifically in the summer and in the fall as we move forward, allowing kids and coaches the opportunity to make up for as much of this missed time as they have, as we can offer,” Harrison said.
The UIL also passed a resolution stating a student who was cleared in a physical examination in the 2019-20 school year can continue to participate in 2020-21 unless there is an indication further medical evaluation is required.
The legislative council meets again June 16.