Should my child practice today? Start with the Air Quality Index
Check the local Air Quality Index (AQI) on AirNow.gov, note whether particles or ozone are the problem, and match the color to a plan. Under federal school guidance, orange usually means lighter practice with more breaks. Red usually means moving longer or harder sessions indoors or rescheduling. Purple means indoors. Some state guides are stricter, so check your school’s or league’s rule.
By YouthPerformanceTrainer.com Editorial Team. Last updated September 24, 2026.
If your child is having trouble breathing right now, call your local emergency number. Do not wait for an advisory to change. For milder symptoms during activity, see the symptom step in the decision card below.
What the Air Quality Index tells you
The AQI is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) tool for explaining outdoor air quality and health. It has six color-coded categories. Higher numbers mean more pollution and more health concern.
- Green, Good (0–50): air pollution poses little or no risk.
- Yellow, Moderate (51–100): air is acceptable, but some unusually sensitive people may be at risk.
- Orange, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (101–150): members of sensitive groups may have health effects. The general public is less likely to be affected.
- Red, Unhealthy (151–200): some members of the general public may have health effects. Sensitive groups may have more serious ones.
- Purple, Very Unhealthy (201–300): a health alert. Risk is higher for everyone.
- Maroon, Hazardous (over 300): the top of the scale.
AirNow, the EPA’s air quality site, explains that a value of 100 generally matches the short-term national health standard for a pollutant. Above 100, air is unhealthy, at first for sensitive groups and then for everyone as the number climbs.
How to read local alerts and advisories
An advisory is only useful if you know what it says and when it applies. Five details matter most.
- Current or forecast. Many cities have a forecast AQI for later today or tomorrow and a current AQI for right now. AirNow also names the pollutant of concern, either ozone or particle pollution.
- Daily forecast versus the hour. Washington State’s health department notes that forecasts describe daily (24-hour) conditions, so real-time air can be better or worse. Its guide suggests checking current readings in the hours before an activity.
- Timing. Air quality can change from day to day, or even hour to hour.
- Action days. Air quality agencies call these when the AQI is in an unhealthy range. In many places that means when the AQI is forecast to reach red.
- Smoke. When wildfire smoke is affecting air quality, AirNow recommends its Fire and Smoke Map.
You can also sign up for forecast and action-day emails through EnviroFlash, a service sponsored by the EPA with state and local agencies. AirNow also offers a free mobile app.
Why breathing hard changes the math
The EPA guidance for schools explains the reason for activity changes. Kids breathe harder when they are active longer or more intensely, and more pollution enters the lungs when a person breathes harder. The guidance says it helps to reduce the time spent breathing hard, for example by taking breaks or rotating players often. It also helps to reduce intensity, for example walking instead of running.
Washington’s guide adds that children breathe in more air than adults for their body weight, and that breathing rates rise over 2 times during light activity, over 4 times during moderate activity, and over 8 times during high-intensity activity, compared with rest. It lists playing catch as light, shooting baskets as moderate, and basketball, soccer, and running as high intensity.
Timing matters too. Ozone pollution is often worse on hot, sunny days, especially in the afternoon and early evening, so morning practice can be better on those days. Particle pollution can be high at any time of day. The EPA guidance suggests limiting activity near idling cars and buses and busy roads, and when there is smoke in the air.
The air-quality decision card for practice
This card turns the EPA’s school guidance into steps a family can use. Print it or save it on your phone.
- Look up the AQI. Check the current and forecast AQI for your ZIP code on AirNow.gov. Write down the color, the number, and the pollutant of concern.
- Match the color (federal school guidance).
- Green: no changes needed.
- Yellow: fine to be active. Students who are unusually sensitive to air pollution could have symptoms.
- Orange: short activities are okay. For longer activities such as practice, take more breaks and do less intense work. Watch for symptoms.
- Red: for all outdoor activities, take more breaks and go lighter. Consider moving longer or harder sessions indoors or to another day or time.
- Purple: move all activities indoors or reschedule.
- Check for a stricter rule. If your school, league, or state has a written air-quality policy, ask for it and follow it. Washington’s May 2026 guide for fine-particle pollution, for example, is stricter than the federal table (see the next section).
- Add the timing. If ozone is the concern, ask whether practice can move to the morning. If it is particle pollution or smoke, the EPA guidance says levels can be high at any time of day, so the color matters more than the clock.
- Ask who is on the field. The EPA guidance says students with asthma should follow their asthma action plans, which are written plans made with their doctor, and keep their quick-relief medicine handy. Your child’s doctor, not this page, decides what your child’s plan should say.
- Watch for symptoms. The EPA lists coughing, wheezing, trouble breathing, and chest tightness, and says they can happen even in students without asthma. Washington’s guide also lists burning eyes, throat and nose irritation, fatigue, and headache from particle exposure. It notes that symptoms can continue or appear in the week after exposure. The EPA guidance says the student might need a break, an easier activity, to stop and go indoors, or to use quick-relief medicine as prescribed. If symptoms do not improve, get medical help.
- Confirm who decides. Ask the coach or league who makes the call to cancel or move practice, and how they will check the air.
If practice moves indoors, will the air be better?
It depends on the pollutant, according to the EPA guidance.
- Ozone: with windows closed, indoor ozone should be much lower, so keeping kids moving indoors is okay.
- Particle pollution: indoor levels are lower only if the building has a forced-air heating or cooling system that filters out particles, and only if that system is installed properly and well maintained.
Washington’s guide adds that during high particle levels or long stretches of poor air, fine particles seep into buildings. If you are not sure whether indoor levels are lower than outside, it says to assume they are similar and take more steps to reduce exposure.
What remains uncertain
- No exact time limit. The EPA guidance says there is no set amount of time kids can stay outside when air quality is unhealthy. The worse the air, the more important breaks, lighter effort, and symptom-watching become.
- The federal guidance is older and written for schools. The EPA school guidance is dated August 2014. It applies to school activities, and a club or travel team may follow different rules.
- Some states are stricter. Washington’s May 2026 guide covers fine-particle pollution only and treats all children 18 and under as a sensitive group. For a practice of one to four hours at orange, it says to limit activity to light intensity, or to one hour of total moderate-intensity activity. If that cannot be done, it says to consider canceling or moving the activity. At red or worse, it says to cancel outdoor activity or move it to an area with safer air. Other states may differ, so ask which guide your school or league follows.
- Some athletic associations publish their own rules. California’s high school association (CIF), for example, has issued a statement on air quality and sport participation.
- Home air sensors can mislead. Washington’s guide says not to compare uncorrected low-cost sensor data to the AQI.
- Heat can add to the risk. Washington’s guide says exposure to extreme heat and poor air quality together can be more harmful than either alone.
- Some children are more sensitive. Washington’s guide lists asthma and other lung disease, heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory infections as health considerations. Whether your child needs tighter limits is a question for their doctor.
When to ask a professional or official source
- Your child’s doctor: about an asthma action plan, about symptoms during or after activity, or about whether your child should follow tighter limits than the general guidance.
- Your school, coach, or league: about the written air-quality policy and who decides to cancel or move practice.
- Your local or state air quality agency: about local forecasts and action-day notices.
- Emergency services: for severe trouble breathing.
Related reading on this site
If you are deciding how much training your athlete needs overall,
Start Here: find the right guide for your situation is a good first stop. The
parent decision tools collect our other printable checklists. For where training education ends and medical care begins, read the
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Sources used for this guide
Educational information only
This article is general educational information from the YouthPerformanceTrainer.com Editorial Team. It is not medical advice and does not diagnose, treat, or replace guidance from your child’s doctor, school, or local air quality agency. It cannot tell you whether a specific activity is safe for your child on a given day. This is a desk review of published guidance. The editorial team did not test air quality, monitors, or any program, and sources were checked on September 24, 2026. This article has not been medically reviewed. Do not change any medicine or asthma plan based on this page.