Football teams in Gainesville and across Cooke County can start fall conditioning Monday, Aug. 3, and the first workouts fall under University Interscholastic League heat rules that became mandatory two days earlier. Since Aug. 1, UIL member schools have been required to monitor Wet Bulb Globe Temperature during outdoor athletic activity and marching band practice, according to the league's guidance on heat stress and athletic participation.
The Aug. 3 date comes from the UIL football calendar for the 2026-2027 season. It covers schools in Classes 1A through 4A, 5A and 6A programs that did not hold spring training, and incoming ninth graders at any school. Larger programs that held spring training wait until Aug. 10.
Two start dates, depending on class and spring training
Classes 1A through 4A, and 5A/6A programs that did not hold spring training
Also covers incoming ninth graders at any school, regardless of classification. Every Cooke County-area program named in UIL realignment documents falls in this group, absent another exception.
5A and 6A programs that held spring training
These larger schools wait a week longer to begin fall football conditioning.
Source: UIL football calendar, 2026-2027 season (uiltexas.org/football)
UIL regulations do not allow two full practices per day during the first five days. The league's fall football practice rules set that opening stretch as an acclimatization period and limit teams to one practice on each of those days. A walkthrough is permitted, but the rules require it to be held as a separate session with a two-hour break between it and the practice.
Source: UIL fall football practice regulations (uiltexas.org)
The heat requirement governs conditions inside those sessions. UIL guidance directs member schools to read WBGT at practices and workouts and to modify what they are doing based on the reading. The policy lists rest, hydration, equipment, practice length, scheduling and the thresholds at which activity must end among the elements schools may have to change. The stated purpose is preventing exertional heat stroke.
The UIL Legislative Council's general session packet from June 2026 describes the rule as an effort to put every member school on the same heat-safety footing statewide. That document names hydration access, activity modifications, rest breaks, acclimatization and high-heat response procedures as the protections schools are expected to have in place as fall sports begin in hot weather.
The WBGT standard was not new to UIL policy. The league approved it as recommended guidance in 2023, according to its heat-stress page, and the UIL Medical Advisory Committee recommended making it mandatory after two years of implementation. The mandate took effect Aug. 1.
The Cooke County-area programs named in UIL realignment documents fall in the Aug. 3 group, absent another UIL exception. Those documents place Gainesville in 4A Division II District 6 for 2026 through 2028 with Krum, Lake Worth, Ponder, Sanger and Van Alstyne. Callisburg and Valley View are listed in 3A Division II District 7 with Bells, Blue Ridge, Howe, Leonard and Sadler S & S Consolidated. Muenster is in 2A Division I District 6 with Alvord, Chico, Nocona, Olney and Tioga. Era and Lindsay share 2A Division II District 9 with Celeste, Collinsville, Cumby and Quinlan Boles.
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