Ten years ago this would not have been a youth-sports topic. It is now. In the West, summer and early-fall practices regularly happen under wildfire smoke that pushes Air Quality Index into ranges where the EPA’s published guidance says kids should not be exercising outdoors.
The AQI scale, briefly. AirNow, the EPA’s air-quality service, publishes AQI on a 0 to 500 scale. The bands are color-coded:
0 to 50, Good (green). No restrictions.
51 to 100, Moderate (yellow). Most kids are fine. Sensitive kids (asthma, allergies) may want to ease up.
101 to 150, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (orange). Kids with asthma should reduce intensity or move indoors. Other kids can practice but coaches should watch for symptoms.
151 to 200, Unhealthy (red). All kids should reduce prolonged outdoor exertion. Many youth programs cancel or move indoors at this threshold.
201 to 300, Very Unhealthy (purple). Practice and games are canceled in most published youth-sport guidance.
301 and above, Hazardous (maroon). Everyone is avoiding outdoor exposure.
Why kids are different. Children breathe faster than adults at rest and even faster during exercise, so they inhale more particulate per pound of body weight. Their lungs are still developing into the late teens, which means inflammation and obstruction matter more for the long-term picture.
PM2.5, the fine particulate that wildfire smoke is heavy with, penetrates deep into the lungs and crosses into the bloodstream. The American Academy of Pediatrics is direct about this in its public-health communications: outdoor exercise during wildfire smoke events is a real cardiovascular and respiratory risk for kids.
The practice-modification rule the EPA publishes. The EPA’s Wildfire Smoke Guide for Public Health Officials gives explicit recommendations for schools and youth-sports programs. Above AQI 150, reduce prolonged outdoor exertion for sensitive groups and consider modifications for everyone. Above AQI 200, move all activity indoors. The guide is downloadable as a PDF and is the reference document.
What good leagues do.
Have a written AQI policy in the season packet. The threshold for cancellation should be a number, not a coach’s call.
Use the AirNow.gov AQI for the field’s actual zip code. Apps like AirNow’s official iOS and Android app, EPA’s “Smoke Sense,” and PurpleAir’s network of community sensors give finer-grained reads.
Communicate cancellation in writing as soon as the threshold is reached. The text-tree should not depend on a coach’s phone.
Allow asthmatic kids to opt out at lower thresholds without team consequence.
The regional reality. West Coast programs need this policy by mid-summer. Mountain West programs need it by July. Midwest programs increasingly need it because of Canadian wildfire smoke drift into the Great Lakes corridor in June and July. Northeastern programs experienced this directly in 2023.
What to ask your league this spring.
“What is your AQI cancellation threshold, and where is it published?”
“Which app or sensor does the league use for the field’s air quality?”
“Is there a policy that allows asthmatic kids to opt out without team consequence at lower AQI?”
A league without an answer is one that has not faced the situation yet, but probably will. The conversation starts now.