The University Interscholastic League Legislative Council met on Oct. 26 and 27 in Round Rock, Texas. Among the topics of conversation was the proposal to prohibit foreign exchange students from participating in varsity sports in Texas. If passed by the Commissioner of Education, the ban would go into effect beginning in the 2026-2027 school year.

The amendment is in response to concerns regarding a potential competitive advantage across open and closed enrollment schools when foreign exchange students are granted a spot to play on a school’s varsity team. While closed enrollment schools have limited admission, schools with open enrollment are able to enroll students from more far-reaching areas. When foreign exchange students enter the picture, are admitted to an open enrollment high school and play at the varsity level, critics question whether this is fair to local students, or if it takes the opportunity to play away from them.

“I think a lot of it [the ban] is to protect Texas kids and Texas players having their spot taken due to foreign exchange students,” said McCallum girls’ basketball coach Elizabeth Huddleston. “I think they’re trying to even the playing field of sports in general for open and closed enrollment schools, and that can be done through limiting foreign exchange students in terms of what level they can play at.”

Head football coach and athletic director Thomas Gammerdinger believes the ban also comes in response to the issue of recruiting. According to Gammerdinger, a high school coach could easily contact a foreign exchange program and request athletes of a certain sport. Gammerdinger says that for sports that are big in other countries, such as soccer, swimming and tennis, where there are highly talented players coming to the United States, it becomes unfair if those players have been personally recruited to a specific school and team. 

“I would suspect, like most rules that get put in place, it’s because somebody starts to exploit it,” Gammerdinger said. “I don’t have an issue with foreign exchange students participating in varsity, but of course I have a problem with people deliberately bringing foreign exchange students into their school in the system. It’s unfortunate, but like so many other things, someone takes advantage of a thing that’s a positive and then we can’t have nice things.” 

An avenue of recruiting has been highlighted by UIL chairman Aaron Hood, who suggested that part of the foreign exchange population is posting their statistics on their social media accounts, such as their height, weight and position in their sport. 

“The ability to recruit on social media nowadays has really changed the whole dynamic of the game,” Huddleston said. “People are basically putting out their stats and their recruiting information just to come as a foreign exchange student to a school, so that could lead schools to choose specific people based on their athletic potential.”

Sophomore Eliot Reiter is a current foreign exchange student from Berlin, Germany. Reiter has family in Texas, and when given the chance to live here for a year as an exchange student, combined with a long-standing interest in playing football, he took the opportunity. While Reiter does not personally see the necessity of participating in social media advertising, he notes that his friends do in order to broadcast their name with the goal of playing college football.

“I think they [Texas] take high school sports very seriously, and I think if you go here, you would have a good opportunity to go to the next level,” Reiter said. 

The ban does not drastically impact Reiter directly because he is leaving next year before it goes into effect. Nonetheless, he feels for the students for whom it will impact. 

“To be honest, I don’t think it really affects me, but it’s probably sad for a lot of other kids,” Reiter said. 

Huddleston echoes Reiter’s compassion for students whose long-term goals in their sport have been impeded upon. According to Huddleston, it will be a lot easier for a student to get recruited to a college in the United States if they’ve previously been playing here.

“I think that is a huge detriment to the kids that are trying to go to the United States for college,” Huddleston said. “I see the benefits of it, but I think it’s at the cost of a lot of the players themselves.”

This is the second year there has been a German exchange student on the football team, and for the past three years, there have been students from Austria, France and Spain playing basketball. According to Huddleston, the ability to play a sport as a foreign exchange student opens many doors. 

“In my own experience, having the foreign exchange students over to play has been a great opportunity for them,” Huddleston said. “A lot of foreign exchange students don’t have school basketball like we do in the United States, so that’s also a really cool opportunity for those kids to get to experience basketball being associated with your high school.”

Furthermore, both Reiter and Huddleston highlight the community it forms. Through football at McCallum, Reiter made many connections, including his first friendships at the school. 

“I think it’s just a really great way for our kids to meet people,” Huddleston said. “They have loved having the foreign exchange students, they welcome [them] with open arms, and it also gives those kids a club or activity where they feel welcome.”

Having seen the benefits of having foreign exchange students in the basketball program at McCallum, Huddleston has yet to come across the issues the ban is addressing in her own experience. 

“I haven’t seen it where a number of foreign exchange students are taking the playing time from people who live in Texas,” Huddleston said. “So I’m kind of surprised that it is that big of a concern, but maybe I’m just naive to the rest of the state.” 

According to Gammerdinger, because McCallum does not have a problematic record with this issue, the effect of the ban will not be largely noticeable. 

“I think all the head coaches at McCallum do a really good job of focusing on the kids that are in our feeder pattern, getting them in, developing them and then going from there,” Gammerdinger said. “We’re not really a school that goes out and tries to cherry-pick athletes.” 

Gammerdinger sees the situation from both sides: that of the Texas high school sports system as a whole and from the shoes of the individual students’ experiences.

“Obviously, you’re going to prevent people from exploiting the loophole, but I do think that it’s a shame,” Gammerdinger said. “They [the foreign exchange students] haven’t done anything wrong.”