UPDATED: What's going on with 7-on-7 in Texas? An explainer

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UPDATE: On June 22, Championship 7v7 announced that "The Battle for Texas State Championship" event scheduled for College Station had been canceled. The organization cited "continued pushback from the State 7on7 Board to many who were interested in participating from coaches to referees" as the reason.

The following article was originally published on May 21.

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Is there going to be 7-on-7 football in Texas this summer? It's a question that's suddenly back at the forefront of the Texas high school football world. Here's what's going on.

State 7-on-7 — the 7-on-7 that you probably know — is operated by the Texas State 7on7 Association, a 501(c)(3) organization whose board of directors is comprised of Texas high school football coaches, including executive director Doug Stephens (Rowlett), president Mike Alexander (Grapevine) and executive vice president Tim Tekyl (Alvin). The organization is not directly affiliated with the University Interscholastic League or the Texas High School Coaches Association, but considering the overlap, the organizations have a strong relationship with one another.

The Texas State 7on7 Association operates State 7-on-7, which is comprised of a number of state qualifying tournaments (SQTs) wherein teams — representing their high schools — qualify for the State 7-on-7 Tournament, held in College Station in late June. That is, until April, when the Texas State 7on7 Association canceled the state tournament and all SQTs due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

On Thursday, Championship 7v7 — an organization founded in 2017 that operates 7-on-7 tournaments nationwide — announced that it would be hosting "The Battle For Texas State Championship", a 7-on-7 tournament to be held June 30-July 3 at the Veteran's Athletic Complex in College Station — the same location that the State 7-on-7 Tournament is usually held. Organizers say the tournament will include up to 160 teams broken up into three divisions. Championship 7v7 is a subsidiary of TruXposur, a company that offers recruiting profiles and exposure to its clients.

The announcement started a social media firestorm among Texas high school football coaches, who scrambled to explain that this was not the same 7-on-7 tournament that usually happens in College Station and is not affiliated with the Texas State 7on7 Association. Soon after the announcement, the Texas State 7on7 Association released a statement explaining as much.

 

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