UIL studying eSports, proposals being brought to legislative council

Gaming would not be considered athletic event

SAN ANTONIO – The University Interscholastic League is studying eSports to possibly add it as a UIL sanctioned activity. 

Recently proposals about esports being sanctioned were brought forward to the UIL Legislative Council. 

"So this would be another activity, another competition, but it would not fall in our athletics department. It would not be considered an athletic event," Dr. Jamey Harrison, UIL deputy executive director, said. 

Harrison said there was interest enough from the council members, so they are now studying the matter to find out more information. 

"What games would they be playing? How would a school set it up? How much money would it cost the school to participate?" Harrison said. "I believe the opportunity to reach students who are otherwise not as engaged in their school, they don't play sports, they're not in the marching band, they don't compete in speech and debate and want to play. But they are passionate about this type of competition."

"I think it'd be prudent for them to study it, to understand it, but to move quickly to capitalize on the opportunity it presents for students in Texas," Will Garrett, vice president and director of cybersecurity development for Port San Antonio, said.

Port San Antonio is already thinking of the future of eSports. An innovation center is in the works, where a key component is a tech arena that would host competitions, plus much more. 

"Companies are looking at the skill sets they see with eSports and then gaming and the applicability of those students and young professionals to careers around data science and data analytics and cybersecurity and augmented reality," Garrett said. 

UTSA cybersecurity student Patrick Lollie spends a lot of his time mastering video games and is excited about the possibility of eSports being sanctioned. 

"A lot of people are really starting to recognize that this is gonna be big, and it makes me happy to be, you know, not one of the first, but one of the people trying to help it grow," Lollie said. 

Inside LFG Cyber Cafe, Lollie and other gamers have the opportunity to compete against local talent. 

"For us, it's been an initiative of ours to try and get the high schools and things like that involved because we know historically that this is kind of the next generation's thing, so to see San Antonio and bigger entities supporting that idea is huge for us," Sam Elizondo, LFG Cyber Cafe co-owner, said. 

Harrison said they will present their findings at their next meeting in October. He said if eSports is sanctioned as a UIL activity, it would happen under a pilot status for the 2021 school year. ​


About the Authors:

Tiffany Huertas is a reporter for KSAT 12 known for her in-depth storytelling and her involvement with the community.

Jason Foster is an executive producer at KSAT. He's worked in the news industry in Texas for more than 15 years, including as a photojournalist, and been at KSAT since 2015.