The high-pressure commercialization of the youth sports pipeline knows no bounds.
Time Limits
WITH VIOLATION CONSEQUENCES
High schools and colleges will impose strict time limits on practicing and playing, with serious consequences for violations.
San Diego State, Ball State and Michigan are among the universities penalized for going over the 20-hours-a-week college time limit. Teams have been placed on probation and compliance staff have been fired for failing to enforce the restrictions.
High school athletes are generally limited to 18 hours a weekâincluding practices and games. However, the enforcement mechanisms are still weak at this level.
These limits are consistent with the hourly training counts that swimmers, cyclists and youth soccer academies hold to. Only ballet dancers radically exceed them (25 hours/week).