When thinking of stereotypical American high school sports, 11-man football, baseball and basketball top the lists. Yet, in the past three years new sports have become some of the fastest growing sports across the nation and the University Interscholastic League (UIL) is doing nothing about it.
Since 2023, the UIL Texas Legislative Council has proposed the idea to add boys volleyball and girls flag football as a UIL sanctioned sports. All proposals have been denied three years in a row.
When the Legislative Council members next meet in June, a pilot program for the two sports should be started, so more young athletes can find their platform before the opportunity is too late.
Nationally, both sports have been listed among the fastest growing youth and collegiate sports, but have seen the most growth at the high school level. So, why isn’t UIL considering adding the sports to the 14 other sanctioned sports?
The recent growth of high school students playing is due to efforts at the collegiate level and increased promotion nationwide on TV and social media.
Boys volleyball has reached an all-time high with over 95,000 participants and 28 state associations adding it as a sanctioned sport. But Texas is one of the state associations that will not accept change and steer away from thinking it is a girls-only game.
Traditionally, volleyball has been popular among girls and flag football has been popular among boys. However, if this decade has shown anyone anything, breaking stereotypes has been a pivotal change, especially in athletics.
The numbers support the need for Texas to change with the times. Recently, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) unveiled their annual High School Participation Survey for the 2024-25 school year. The NFHS recorded that boys volleyball has been one of the only sports with more than a 15% increase in participation since 2019.
Without the approval from UIL to sanction the sport, other associations were forced to make their own league if athletes wanted to continue to grow the sport. The Texas Boys High School Volleyball League started their own state championship tournament for participating schools in 2019. Now, there are over 120 Texas high schools that participate in the league.
In addition to boys volleyball, girls flag football has seen a ground-breaking increase in participation, with 500,000 youth girls participating in the sport during 2023. In the past three years, new programs have been created to work towards sanctioning the sport.
In 2023, the Houston Texans launched a program to help grow girls flag football in the surrounding area. In 2025, the Dallas Cowboys did the same. In addition, the Texans launched a ‘She’s Next’ campaign to help grow the game in hopes of having the sport sanctioned.
Additionally, both men’s and women’s flag football has been added to the sport list for the first time at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The announcement made in 2023 has already made an impact in participation internationally and further coverage will lead to another breakthrough year for sports.
With the sport being offered at the youth and professional level, it doesn’t seem logical for UIL to pass up the opportunity to add the sport to state competitions.
Although lack of funding at the state level can be an issue for the addition of any sports, most schools already have 11-man football and girls volleyball teams. This means these schools are in the perfect situation to add boys volleyball and girls flag football because practice and playing areas would already be made.
With record-breaking increases across all sports in recent years, UIL has created more opportunities for those participating in the already sanctioned sports. Yet with two new sports on the rise, UIL has two more opportunities it needs to take and they need to take it soon. A new generation of sports and a new generation of athletes is coming, and right now UIL has its chance to be part of the change.
