{"id":398018,"date":"2026-08-05T04:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T04:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/398018\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T04:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T04:18:08","slug":"new-uil-heat-rules-take-effect-for-outdoor-athletics-marching-band-activities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/398018\/","title":{"rendered":"New UIL heat rules take effect for outdoor athletics, marching band activities"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Texas University Interscholastic League (UIL) has mandated all member schools to follow new heat safety rules.<\/p>\n

The UIL released similar heat safety guidelines as recommendations in 2023, but the rules are now mandatory for all outdoor athletic and marching band activities starting this month.<\/p>\n

Rather than measure the outside temperature with a standard thermometer, schools must measure the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), a metric that combines data such as humidity, wind speed and solar radiation to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the heat’s effect on the body.<\/p>\n

Andrea McDougall, an athletic trainer at McCallum High School, says the athletics program began to put more emphasis on the new heat guidelines last year.<\/p>\n

She said heat safety practices and procedures are familiar to many in the athletic training profession, but some concepts like wet bulb globe temperature were new to even the coaches.<\/p>\n

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“They were like, ‘Oh my gosh, what is this?’ And now we actually get to take them through that, and they get to be a huge part of it. So that’s been really cool,” she said.<\/p>\n

The new rules require the WBGT to be taken at least 15 minutes before outdoor activities begin, then once every half hour after the session begins.<\/p>\n

As the WBGT increases, the UIL mandates longer, more frequent rests and water breaks. There must also be a rapid cooling station on site for heat emergencies, which usually involves full-body submersion into ice water to bring down body temperature. <\/p>\n

\"Wet<\/p>\n

Wet bulb globe temperature activity levels, as outlined by the Texas UIL (Photo: University Interscholastic League)<\/p>\n

If the WBGT exceeds 92 degrees, all outdoor activities must be delayed or moved indoors. Austin and its surrounding areas are classified as a Class 3 WBGT zone.<\/p>\n

“We were in the red for a little bit yesterday, but we haven’t gotten up into the black or anything super dangerous yet,” said McDougall. “We’re only on day two of practice, so we’ll see how things go from the rest of this week into next, when we’ll be practicing outside.”<\/p>\n

For Thomas Turpin, Director of Bands at Westlake High School, working around the hottest parts of the day is key. He and the Chapparal Band have been applying the UIL WBGT recommendations since 2023.<\/p>\n

To beat the heat, the band begins field practice at 7 a.m. each day.<\/p>\n

“Yes, it’s an early start for all of us, but it’s much easier to mitigate those temperatures early in the morning,” he said.<\/p>\n

The band then moves indoors in the afternoon as staff monitors outdoor conditions for evening rehearsals.<\/p>\n

“Tonight, for instance, is a great example,” said Turpin. “We’re going to practice from six to nine o’clock. I’ve already got a plan in place because, more than likely, we may be inside that threshold where we would have to delay rehearsals starting right at six o’clock.”<\/p>\n

He says that so far, the rules have yet to hinder the band’s progress on their annual marching band and color guard showcase.<\/p>\n

“The guidelines obviously are there for a reason: to keep our kids safe and to make sure that we’re able to do the activity well,” he said. “So yeah, we’re excited to continue on our journey this year.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Texas University Interscholastic League (UIL) has mandated all member schools to follow new heat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-398018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}