The Rising Threat of Extreme Heat for Young Athletes

The devastating consequences of extreme heat are no longer freak weather events but a dangerous new reality for young people. This past July, a 16 year-old in Memphis died from heatstroke after a football practice, and a 17-year-old in Houston spent a week in a coma following a training session.

As millions of children return to fall sports, these threats continue. A recent heat wave in the Pacific Northwest has already canceled high school soccer games in Spokane, a grim sign of the new risks children face on the field.

We can’t shield kids from intense heat. But we can give them language, strategies, and confidence to recognize risks. Climate extremes are increasingly a part of childhood, and right now, we aren’t doing enough to help young people navigate this reality. Eighteen states don’t even require teaching human-caused climate change in science classrooms.

The reason for this increased climate risk is twofold: Children are developmentally more susceptible to heat, and their activity levels make them more vulnerable. The past decade has been the hottest on record, and climate change, fueled by the burning of fossil fuels, is making extreme heat more frequent and intense. According to a new report from Climate Central, a Gen Z child experiences four times as many extreme heat days as a Gen X child.