Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Manchester United in July 2003 as an exciting prospect who would be nurtured by manager Alex Ferguson.
In the following 18 months the Portuguese winger played almost without a break for his club and in friendlies, the European soccer championship and the Olympics for his country.
He chalked up more than 80 matches and will take that total beyond 100 before the end of this season.
Ronaldo is 19 years old.
His experience is repeated throughout the game across the world as clubs and countries seek to wring every drop of value from their premium assets.
Soccer is by no means alone in demanding ever more in terms of physical and mental commitment. Just about every major professional sport is facing a burnout problem.
Golf and tennis now have 12-month seasons and the relentless competition is taking its toll.
Leading tennis players are breaking down in their 20s and top-level tournaments are having to deal with high-profile drop-outs at ever increasing rates.
English rugby this week announced a three-year project to research burnout as concern grows over the growing number of injuries being suffered by top-class players.
Only 10 years after rugby shed its amateur status, players are calling time on their international careers while still at their peak to give their bruised bodies a chance to hang on in the club game.
WILKINSON WOE
Jonny Wilkinson, England's drop-kicking hero of the 2003 World Cup, has not played a Test since the Sydney final after a series of injuries and many of his England colleagues have also spent more time on the sidelines than the pitch.
Cricket, with its never-ending treadmill of one-day internationals, has for many players become a drudge.
Allied to the physical struggles of the players is the "turn-off" factor for fans who, in many sports, have gone beyond saturation point for both live and televised events.
When only 6,000 turn out in the 67,000-capacity Stadio Delle Alpi to watch Juventus play in the Champions League, it is clear that the product no longer excites.
Everybody recognises the problems, from players to administrators to television executives, but little is being done.
Among the loudest warning voices is that of FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
"There has been a lot of talk about players being too tired and I would agree," Blatter said recently.
World soccer's governing body, along with UEFA, was concerned about the recent failures of many top nations in the World Cup and European Championship and concluded that leading players were arriving for the tournaments worn out from their regular season activities.
The early international retirement of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Pavel Nedved and Paul Scholes, is also a worrying trend.
Blatter plans for players to be guaranteed a period of rest before the 2006 World Cup to ensure the sport's showpiece is not again undermined.
CALENDAR AMENDMENTS
"We have to make some amendments to the calendar to make sure that players are not tired. The view of the technical experts is very clear: players are taking part in too many matches," he said.
However, FIFA said that progress "would require concessions from every party and interest group involved, including FIFA, the confederations, associations, leagues and clubs".
Blatter has long advocated restricting major leagues to a maximum of 18 teams, is coming round to the idea that the international friendly is doomed and has finally recognised the folly of the World Club Cup.
The clubs, multi-million-dollar businesses often with shareholders to satisfy, should agree but sometimes appear less than concerned for the long-term welfare of their most valuable assets.
Try convincing Manchester United that it is in their interest to cut the Premier League from 20 to 18 teams. Two fewer Old Trafford full houses means two million pounds less going into the profit pot.
The Champions League, despite opposition from clubs, was reorganised to have just one group stage this season but the UEFA Cup has ballooned.
It began on July 15, 11 days after the European Championship final. A team going all the way after qualifying via the Intertoto Cup, group and two knockout stages, faces 19 games.
While that cannot be good for the health of players, it is also stretching the loyalty of fans, who have shown what they think of the competition by leaving swathes of empty seats across the continent.
Some players, too, are voting with their feet.
Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest went on strike in August, refusing to leave for a training camp.
"We had only eight days for rest after we won the title and the Romanian Cup last season," said Dinamo captain Florentin Petre.
Coach Ioan Andone condemned the players' "unprofessional attitude" and the board fined them.
NO SLOWDOWN
In rugby the physical danger of playing too many games is even more obvious, but there is no sign of a slowdown.
Most of the major rugby nations play around a dozen internationals a year on top of Super 12, the Heineken Cup and weekly club matches.
England, worn out physically and mentally, were roundly thrashed on their tour to New Zealand and Australia, an experience that convinced captain Lawrence Dallaglio that he could not go on.
The contractual ties between the unions ensure that these games will continue, with the equally weary Tri-nations countries making the reverse trip every November.
With so few countries competitive in the sport, the novelty of seeing the All Blacks or Springboks is fast wearing off.
Australia played Scotland five times in 13 months from November 2003 and with the Wallabies winning every game by just about the same comfortable margin it was no surprise that Murrayfield was half-empty.
Australia will play South Africa four times next year and with the Tri-nations being expanded from 2006, even their fierce rivalry with the All Blacks is losing some gloss.
"Personally I'm sick of playing against South Africa and Australia," said New Zealand scrumhalf Justin Marshall in a comment that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Cricket has the same problem, where too few countries play each other too often.
Test matches have just about maintained their mystique but the one-day international has become an instantly forgettable sporting snack.
It is not unusual for countries to play 20 one-day internationals in a season, while in a World Cup year the total can top 30.
REMARKABLE TALLY
Wasim Akram played 356 for Pakistan and even that remarkable tally is likely to be overhauled by India's Sachin Tendulkar, who is on 342.
"We are treating athletes like pieces of meat," said former England captain Nasser Hussain.
"As a consequence the standard of bowling drops because the bowlers are not fully fit and it ends up as just another game of cricket."
Boredom and a lack of recovery time are also bedevilling tennis, where the season has been expanding until there is no longer a break.
World number one Roger Federer missed the Madrid Masters at the end of last year, saying he was too tired.
"My experience tells me that the pace in the world of tennis is not easy to take," said former world number two Alex Corretja.
"That is why some players are missing, they are burned out. Physically and mentally it is very, very tiring -- even for the great players."
Former women's world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne is recovering from a mystery virus that has left her suffering from exhaustion, Kim Clijsters has played little because of a wrist injury and world number one Lindsay Davenport struggled to keep going towards the end of last year.
"I think my body was just breaking down with a lot of tennis," said the American.
In golf, the concentration levels needed, combined with constant travelling, can leave even the best asking for a break.
However, when three-time major winner Ernie Els said he was considering playing fewer tournaments in America to appear in more in Europe he was stunned by the reaction of USPGA officials.
Instead of thanking Els, one of the great ambassadors of the game, for gracing more than the minimum required 15 U.S. tournaments, the PGA Tour demanded that for every extra event Els played in the rest of the world he should play another in the United States.
There is no respite across the Atlantic either, where the 2004 European Tour -- which included tournaments in Africa, Australia and Asia -- ended on November 21.
The '2005' Tour began in China, four days later.
