UIL delays school athletic activities due to growing coronavirus concerns

The University Interscholastic League has announced a radical plan for the start of the 2020-2021 fall season.

On Tuesday, the UIL announced a new calendar for fall sports but it is split. Class 1A-4A will be allowed to start on time, while Class 5A and 6A will be pushed back a month into September.

Football and volleyball seasons for Class 1A through 4A will remain on time. Practice for football and volleyball teams will begin Aug. 3, while volleyball will start games Aug. 10 and football on Aug. 27, like it was originally scheduled.

Class 5A and 6A football and volleyball teams will start practice on Sept. 7, with volleyball matches beginning the week of Sept. 14 and football starting the week of Sept. 24.

With the different starts, that means state championship weekends will also be different.

Class 1A-4A state championships for volleyball will be Nov. 18-21, while football will be Dec. 16-19. For Class 5A and 6A, the state championships for volleyball will be moved to Dec. 11-12 and football will be shifted to January with a date to be decided.

This announcement comes after the California Interscholastic Federation announced it would be moving the fall sports to the spring with start dates in December and January.

That move has already caused some recruiting movement. According to his Twitter, ESPN 300 recruit Victory Vaka has already announced his intentions to forgo his senior season and early enroll at Texas A&M.

According to High School Football America there are 13 states that have adjusted the start of the 2020 football season. According to their post, Arizona (Sept. 11), Hawaii (postponed), Mississippi (Sept. 4), New Jersey (Oct. 2), New York (Oct. 1), New Mexico (moved to Spring), South Carolina (Sept. 11), Tennessee (postponed), Vermont (postponed), Virginia (moved to Spring), Washington (Sept. 18) and West Virginia (Sept. 3) and California (moved to Spring) have made their plans known.

Of the states that have made announcements, California, Virginia and New Mexico have been the only ones to have pushed fall sports to the spring.

Prior to Monday’s announcement by the UIL, in Texas, the Southwest Preparatory Conference announced on Thursday it would not start athletics until Sept. 8 with conference games being held off until Sept. 21. The next day, the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) announced no games, workouts or scrimmages before Sept. 7. Workouts could begin Sept. 8 with volleyball matches being postponed to Sept. 21 and football until Sept.28.