UIL officials working to reduce number of ejections during contests
HOUSTON — During a session at the annual Texas High School Coaches Association Convention where the University Interscholastic League updates some of the state's athletic directors, new athletic director Ray Zepeda showed an alarming number on a large screen.
During the session, Zepeda was talking about sportsmanship and showed that during the 2022-23 school year there were 3,199 total ejections during UIL contests. That number is up 50% over the last five years, and it is something that Zepeda later addressed during a session with the media at the annual gathering of the state's high school coaches.
Among the sports that were listed, 1,179 were recorded in soccer, 1,057 in football and 335 in baseball, and Zepeda said they have to work to change those numbers.
"I think you saw those numbers and it was a pretty good increase in the number of ejections whether it be athlete ejections from contests, or officials ejecting spectators from contests," Zepeda said. "We've seen a pretty dramatic rise over the past five years, and I think the data I presented showed that."
Zepeda said the UIL was working with coaches, athletic directors and officials associations to find out what can work to reduce those numbers, and during the session, Zepeda asked athletic directors to work with their coaches on sportsmanship and reacting to officials.
"This is educationally based athletics we have happening and it's hard to have positive outcomes when you don't have positive atmospheres," Zepeda said. "So we are going to start with ourselves first, with our coaches, with our member school districts to try to maybe police that up a little bit better.
It may be to have a specific strategy for coaching, sportsmanship not only with our athletes but also with their parents as well. We hope that's going to make a big difference."
Zepeda added also working closely with officials association to offer help where needed, and work to increase numbers as many official associations are seeing shortages.
"We are also going to lean into our official associations and see how can we better partner with them and work with them to get a better handle on the competitive atmospheres in and around our contests," Zepeda said.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: UIL officials working to reduce number of ejections during contests
