by Daisy Creager | Staff Writer
The UIL directors, who favor keeping students safe in Texas’ relentless summer heat, will soon establish a revised two-a-day rule for high school football players throughout the state.
“With temperatures being so hot, [the rule] limits the amount of practice they can have. So, in other words, it’s not as dangerous as far as being out in the heat for prolonged periods of time,” assistant football coach Gordy Gesell said.
The new rule will limit the summer football practices from three times a day to two, possibly extending the break in between to two hours.
“I think it’s better, because we’re not out in the sun a lot. I mean, there won’t be a lot of heat strokes and stuff like that,” sophomore player David Gonzales said.
Additional adjustments were made at a variety of competitive levels. 4A schools (those with less than 2000 students) don’t have spring football, so their students can participate in other sports throughout the year. 5A schools (those with 2000 students or more) who participate in spring football start practice in May, giving them an extra month of practice. Because 4A schools don’t get this extra month, they start practice a week earlier than 5A schools in August.
“We’d rather have spring football than start a week earlier. It shouldn’t affect us very much, because we’ll basically do what we’ve always done. It should affect more of the 4A schools since they have extra practice over the summer,” Gesell said.
Beside getting students out of the sun, the rule will give the football players more time to themselves.
“Practice will probably be a lot faster than it usually is,” Gonzales said. “I think it will give me more time to spend with my family, and that will be better.”