Elementary school baseball players in Seongnam, South Korea, played a practice game this week despite a heat wave that forced professional leagues to cancel matches [1].
The incident highlights a critical gap in safety protocols for youth athletes, who lack the same institutional protections as professional players during extreme weather events [1].
While the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) canceled professional games in Seoul's Jamsil and Gwangju, youth players continued their match at 2 p.m. local time [1]. At that hour, the temperature in Seongnam had reached 35 °C [1]. Local authorities had already issued a heat warning for the area [1].
The youth match lasted for over two hours [1]. According to YTN, the youth association has no established regulations that allow for the cancellation of games during periods of extreme heat [1]. This lack of formal policy meant the game proceeded even as professional standards deemed the weather unsafe.
For professional games, the KBO typically cancels matches if the perceived temperature reaches 38 °C or if the maximum temperature hits 39 °C [1]. Despite these benchmarks for adults, no such threshold exists for the elementary school players in this association [1].
"In a record-breaking heat wave where professional baseball games were canceled, elementary school players' baseball games were pushed through in the middle of the day," a YTN anchor said [1].
The report noted that the association simply had no rules in place to protect children from the heat [1].
“The youth association has no rule to cancel games in extreme heat.”
This disparity in safety regulations reveals a systemic failure to apply heat-stress mitigation standards to youth sports in South Korea. While professional leagues prioritize athlete health through specific temperature thresholds, the absence of similar mandates for youth associations leaves children vulnerable to heat-related illnesses during record-breaking climate events.
