Overtraining Against the Law?

A friend sent me a link to this article about a custody hearing involving a "Little League Dad."

The father of two Long Island junior tennis prospects has been stripped of custody by a New York state judge who found their rigorous training schedule to be "overly burdensome, exhausting and completely unacceptable."

The Cavallero brothers -- Giancarlo, 10, and Jordy, 5 -- were required to leave school early to spend six hours a day at tennis practice and play tournaments on the weekends.

But in a ruling last week, Acting Supreme Court Justice Norman St. George of Nassau County found the "grueling" training regimen had left the children "constantly tired, regularly late to school ... and their tennis appears to be negatively impacted."

On the other hand, I saw this video on Yahoo! Sports of MMA fighter Jens Pulver's son Karson.

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/v/9fIMKcWoYlM[/embed]

Look at the form on his squats! Sometimes, the early start is fun and games and encouraging an active lifestyle. However, sometimes dreams and ambitions lead to a loss of perspective. Sometimes, it is a fine line to walk between pushing too much and starting too early and just letting a child have fun.