Not This UIL?

Love it, hate it, cuss it......I know I have cussed the UIL more than you know.....Hell, I know at least once, Mr. Taucer caught something and kept me off the back page of the UIL's Leaguer magazine. ( It is the place where people who get in trouble are published) And I will be eternally grateful.

So, I see something in the Dallas papers concerning the UIL and I read the article.

So, if you now have a child involved in Marching band, that child has to have a physical before Marching Band starts.

When I read it, I went....." What the hell?"

We never did a physical and I did band for well, almost 12 years of my life, if you include university.

But, I got to thinking...Yeah, today, it might be wise.

This is no longer a rural state. 85% of all kids live in 20 of the 254 counties of this state. School is out and these kids spend all summer, " sucking up the air condition" inside, a large number playing video games all summer. There ain't a kid picked a pea or rode a bicycle in these counties.

Yeah, they need to go and get a physical. You would be amazed at how many of these kids pass out in the heat, the first week of band practice. ( I know some schools already require physicals for band)

Then, I read that there is a "State Mariachi Band" contest.

55 bands will go to state this year.

Trouble is, this is pretty much leaving out much of the state. It just is. I don't see Buna, or PNG, or Mt Vernon ever spending the money for a Mariachi Band. South Texas? Sure. West Texas? Sure. Maybe urban districts.....

It is sort of like wrestling and soccer. There is just not enough interest( or kids) in a lot of smaller schools. ( The smallest soccer district is 4A)( That said, I see soccer growing in Texas, I know in urban areas, there are a lot of kids playing in high school) And the more we learn about football injuries, the more people will keep their kids from playing.

Then, I see that Robotics and  Copy Editing be added at the UIL Academic level as "Official" events. I know Robotics was on "trial" basis for a while. And Robotics is a good move. We are headed that way.

( I am still trying to figure out how UIL Accounting has survived? Maybe it has made a comeback? There used to be two schools in our district send two teams...ECISD and Buna....And I picked a team before contest knowing with the numbers alone we'd get medals....and more importantly, points.)

I remember when there was an attempt to make a UIL Economics an academic contest. I even went to the inaugural meeting and knew 10 minutes in it was never going to work. Rather than try it out on a state wide basis, they put the trial in the Valley. Why there I do not know? But the lady out of Brownsville ISD did a good job and had a success until, the powers that be, decided that the contest should be a majority of microeconomics.....Microeconomics doomed the contest.

So, old habits die hard, being UIL Director, well, old habits die hard.