ABOUT

HEAT stands for Home Education Athletic Teams, Inc. but a secondary meaning is He Enables All Things, for HEAT’s purpose is to glorify God through providing home school families the opportunity to participate in competitive secondary level team sports. It was started in 2010 with a middle school 6 man football team and middle school boys and girls track team. HEAT currently offers 6 man football, volleyball, basketball, cross country, track and field, and baseball for both high school and middle school students in both Tyler and Longview. Other sports will be considered based on the interest of participants and the availability of facilities and coach volunteers.

Each individual home school family is looked upon as a separate private school from a legal perspective by the state of Texas, so HEAT is not parallel to a school organization. It exists to provide the organizational framework to give opportunity for families to participate in competitive athletics, but each individual family makes the decision/commitment to participate and also assumes all liability for that decision. God is ultimately in control and in authority over all things with families being given responsibility for their own care and well being. In making a determination to participate in HEAT the family should seek God’s direction in that endeavor and trust His sovereignty in the outcome. HEAT seeks to provide a Godly example in all relationships and decisions and strives to provide a safe environment physically, spiritually, and emotionally for all athletes. If a family does not trust this to be true, then they are encouraged not to participate with HEAT.

HEAT is a Christian organization and seeks to operate on biblical principles, but it is run by humans and there will be mistakes and shortcomings in character, so please expect to exercise Christian forgiveness and reconciliation. If there are any disagreements or constructive criticisms, please go directly to the coach to work them out and do not spread dissension among others. If things cannot be worked out please seek audience with the Athletic Director and ultimately there is a board of directors of the organization which can consider issues as necessary.

Christian families have differing levels of conviction regarding issues of modesty and relationships. HEAT promotes, in accordance with I Cor. 10:32, “do not cause your brother to stumble.” In this regard, we defer to the more conservative views on these issues and therefore highly discourage visible displays of affection among non family members and any clothing that is overly revealing or form fitting. Other guidelines and conduct policies are available for review on this website and we encourage you to reveiw and understand them prior to registering to participate with HEAT.