There is growing interest and awareness regarding the risk of sudden cardiac death in the young athlete taking part in competitive sports. Most sudden deaths in these subjects occur in the context of underlying inherited/genetic cardiac disorders. Cardiac evaluation of every athlete is impractical and needs to be targeted at individuals at higher risk. In practice, efforts should be channeled into athletes with cardiac symptoms or those with a family history of inherited cardiac disease or premature sudden death. There are potential pitfalls in the evaluation of noninvasive tests when distinguishing between physiological adaptations to exercise and cardiac pathology. Physicians evaluating young athletes need to be aware of the spectrum of physiological adaptations and familiar with conditions responsible for sudden death in this population...