Environment Japan warns of future restrictions on children’s sports

Organisers of school sports competitions are already taking action to protect young athletes, including rules halting or suspending games when temperatures soar, and changing the location or date of tournaments. Other measures include shorter match times, regular drinks breaks, shaded rest areas and even ice baths. Last year the national high school football tournament was moved to Hokkaido – Japan's northernmost prefecture – for girls and to Fukushima, also in the north, for boys. Two years ago, organisers of the Koshien baseball tournament introduced cooling-off periods midway through each match and, last year, divided some of the schedule into morning and late afternoon games to avoid the hottest part of the day. The opening ceremony for next month's tournament will be held in the late afternoon for the first time.

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