After Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s announcement on Monday stating professional sports, youth sports camps and little league can return in the state with restrictions on or after May 31, the University Interscholastic League (UIL) took the first step towards bringing back high school athletics.
In an email sent to Texas athletic directors and head coaches Tuesday morning, UIL Director of Athletics Susan Elza said the UIL is planning to allow limited strength and conditioning workouts to begin after the first week of June. A formal plan from the UIL will be released in the near future.
“UIL is aware of Governor Abbott’s announcement yesterday. We are currently, and have been, working with the appropriate state officials to allow schools to begin limited summer strength and conditioning on June 8, 2020. As soon as we have the details of that plan, we will release them to schools to allow time to plan and prepare for bringing students back to campus for these purposes. We hope to have those details released to you this week.”
The UIL initially canceled all spring sports and activities on April 17 after Gov. Abbott announced schools to remain closed to in-person learning for the remainder of the year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Now, it appears as if athletics are on track to return sooner rather than later.
This could pave the way for fall sports to return in time for the 2020-21 school year, which begins with football and volleyball on Aug. 3.
