Please help to petition the UIL to add hockey as an authorized sport under the UIL guidelines and policies. Students that are not in authorized sports as denoted by the UIL do not receive the same standards and treatment as those in sports designated by the UIL (football, tennis, swimming, baseball and etc). To illustrate, a football player that leaves to an event during the school day is considered excused yet a student attending a hockey event is considered unexcused and must do Saturday school to make up for the time missed. This is according to the TEA (Texas Education Agency) under Section 25.092 (absences). This sends a poor message to those young athletes that choose hockey as his/her sport. Please help to make a change. You can visit http://www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/ for additional information. Thank you for your time.