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There is no perfect number, but youth sport and paediatric sports medicine groups offer some rules of thumb to reduce overuse injuries and burnout.

Commonly cited guidance:

• A frequently quoted rule is that weekly hours of organised sport should not exceed the child’s age in years
• More time in organised, structured training than in free play, by a large margin, has been linked with higher injury risk in some studies
• At least one or two days a week without organised training is commonly recommended
• Time off from a single sport across the year, and playing different sports, also helps

Further reading: youth development and training science.

How many hours a week do young athletes in your club typically train?

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Worked example: a 12-year-old playing football four times a week for 90 minutes plus a match is already at around 7-8 hours. Add a second sport and school PE, and the total may exceed what many guidelines suggest.

These rules are guides, not hard limits, but they are a useful prompt to look at the whole week rather than one club’s schedule.

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