Texas Takes Aim at Foreign Exchange Athletes

In the state where everything is bigger, high school sports are no different, football in particular. High schools in Texas have stadiums that seat thousands¹ and they produce the highest number of current NFL players, to the point where the odds of a current professional player being from Texas is 1 in 12.² Football is obviously the most potent example, but every high school sport means more to Texans than their other fellow Americans. Texans have built an atmosphere for high school athletics and now they have made a move that they feel defends it.

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is the governing body of Texas high school athletics.³ The League met on October 27th, to discuss potential changes to statewide competition rules. Included in their discussions was a proposal to ban foreign exchange students from participating in any varsity level athletics.⁴ Proponents of the proposal claim that foreign exchange students give certain schools a competitive advantage and take opportunities from equally deserving native Texans.⁵ Robert Lee Independent School District Superintendent, Dr. Aaron Hood has a particular issue with the current system, stating “Our Texas kids are not allowed to go to a town, a neighboring town, without moving there and play at the varsity level, but they are allowed to get on a plane and come across to our state and play immediately, taking the place many times of a community kid that has worked hard get to that position on an athletic team.”⁶

The proposal has received backlash from opponents, who claim that the move would only hurt foreign exchange students’ experiences and do little to benefit competition.⁷ Most foreign exchange students do not play a sport and those that do rarely compete at a varsity level.⁸ McGregor High School Athletic Director Quentin White, has 30 years of experience in coaching and has only seen a handful of exchange athletes with a small minority playing at the varsity level.⁹ White is more concerned with the lost opportunities for exchange athletes, reminiscing on the time his football team had a German student who loved having the opportunity to play.¹⁰

While claims of fairness are being alleged, it appears that this move is a precursor to tackle a greater issue according to those involved, the issue of open enrollment.¹¹ Barbers Hill Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Greg Poole, stated that “you can tell teams that have a higher percentage of foreign exchange.¹² You can also tell teams that have a higher percentage of open enrollment athletes.”¹³ If the proposal is successful, we can expect to see a similar one banning open-enrollment students from participating as well. As Dr. Poole has stated, “I hope we pass this, and I hope it opens the door for other motions.”¹⁴

The proposal passed via a unanimous decision, but it must be approved by Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath before it can go into effect.¹⁵ As it stands, the proposal will begin with the 2026-2027 school year and only affect varsity level sports.¹⁶ Exchange students will still be permitted to play lower-level sports.¹⁷ The UIL governs not just sports, but all extracurricular activities in the state. While they have stated that the ban will not affect other activities, such as academics or music, the UIL has complete authority to do so at any time.¹⁸ The move alienates foreign athletes and further exacerbates the modern shift from welcoming international talent at all levels to heavily restricting international athletes.

1. https://knue.com/looking-at-the-largest-high-school-football-stadiums-in-texas/ ↩︎
2. https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-states-most-nfl-players-1945434 ↩︎
3. https://www.fox7austin.com/news/uil-bans-foreign-exchange-students-from-texas-varsity-sports ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎
5. Id. ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/local/uil-approves-proposal-ban-foreign-exchange-students-participating-texas-high-school-varsity-sports/500-6fa66869-a182-4c60-99ca-a62913f50d40 ↩︎
8. Id. ↩︎
9. Id. ↩︎
10. Id. ↩︎
11. https://www.athleticbusiness.com/operations/governing-bodies/article/15770619/uil-passes-amendment-banning-foreign-exchange-students-from-high-school-varsity-athletics ↩︎
12. Supra, note 3. ↩︎
13. Id. ↩︎
14. Id. ↩︎
15. https://sports.yahoo.com/article/uil-passes-proposal-ban-foreign-143335148.html ↩︎
16. Id. ↩︎
17. Id. ↩︎
18. Supra, note 3. ↩︎