Our Purpose: Educational Competition

The purpose of the UIL is to organize and properly supervise contests that assist in preparing students for citizenship. It aims to provide healthy, character building, educational activities carried out under rules providing for good sportsmanship and fair play for all participants.

Sensible organized competition under proper controls has demonstrated its value and has furnished inspiration to talented students for many years. The UIL does not provide a contest for every student but does fill the need for those with the physical and intellectual capacity to excel in activities beyond the classroom. The UIL has the active support of most of the school executives, teachers, and citizens in Texas.

Statement of Purpose

The University Interscholastic League believes:

• that participation in extracurricular activities motivates students to place a high priority on attending school and making better grades.
• that most students enjoy the pursuit of excellence and seek opportunities to test themselves against their own accomplishments and the accomplishments of others,
• that such opportunities are best provided through properly conducted and equitably administered competitive activities, and
• that the classroom is enriched by the flow of student energy into the more intensified arena of competition and back into the classroom.

Therefore, we reaffirm that students are the focus of our endeavor and deserve an opportunity to:

• refine physical and mental skills,
• nurture self-realization and build self-confidence,
• feel a sense of pride and dignity,
• experience teamwork and develop a sense of fair play,
• develop the ability to lead and the willingness to follow,
• foster self-discipline and perseverance,
• appreciate that rules, consistently applied, create order and discipline,
• learn to accept graciously the decisions of judges and officials,
• affirm self-worth in times of disappointment as well as adulation,
• cultivate lifetime skills,
• complement their classwork with practice and performance,
• have fun,
• experience the joy of achieving their potential in a wholesome environment, and
• discover that ultimately the true meaning of winning is doing one's best.