If you're a parent, there's a good chance your child plays sports. But how hard do they play, and for how many hours a week?

Studies show too many children are pushing themselves too hard at too young an age.

A growing number of children are suffering from sports injuries.

After nine-year-old Eric Williams is done with football practice, one foot hurts.

“After the end of practice, I would sit down in the car. My heel would start to swell up,” says Eric.

His feet hurt so bad, his mom helps him take his shoes off.

“I sit down. I just want to go to sleep, but I can't because I can't even move my heel,” he says.

Although most of us refer to them as “growing pains”, sports medicine doctor Stephen Simons calls it apothositis, common for kids as they develop through ages 9 to 14, like Eric.

It’s even more common if they play sports.

“So sports may not need be necessary to create these growing pains, but sport can certainly help aggravate them,” says Dr. Simons.

Studies show that half of the sport injuries kids suffer from are from overuse.

Other studies also show that most kids just want to play for fun, but are pushed by adults to win.

“When you ask the kids, you give them a survey - 8,000 kids are asked, ‘why do you play youth sports?’ It’s for fun, to hang out with my friends, play outside and so forth. Playing to win ranked 8th on the list,” says Bill Stanczykiewicz of the Indiana Youth Institute.

“The social explanation is there is pressure to become good at a sport early on for collegiate scholarship, or that's what it will take to participate at high school level,” says Dr. Simons.

It's no secret that many kids today watch the stars rise to fame and are hoping maybe they could do the same.

“Youth are specializing sooner now and they are focusing on one sport,” says Dr. Simons.

That's why experts recommend parents keep a close eye on the number of hours and days their child plays sports.

“The biggest key on youth sports is to make sure you have the proper amount of rest, according to national doctors group, they feel a child should have two days a week where they do no organized sports whatsoever,” says Stanczykiewicz

But no one is discouraging sports altogether, considering the high childhood obesity rates.

“It’s an effort to find that good balance of doing little or nothing and doing too much,” says Dr. Simons.

“Baseball and football - that's what I love, so that's what I hope I can keep doing for the rest of my life,” says Eric.

Doctors also say many children are involved in accidental sports injuries, which naturally aren't as easy to prevent as overuse.

Experts recommend parents keep track of the number of practice hours - no more than five days of sports per week, two or three months of team sports each year.