Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
May 24, 2002, Washington Post

Party Like It's 2012

Mayor Anthony Williams is planning a super cool sports party for kids next month.

But if you want to be part of the fun, you have to move fast. The mayor has announced that the first Youth Sports Day will take place on Saturday, June 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids ages 6 to 14 will be able to learn about more than 20 Olympic sports from local Olympic and Paralympic athletes and coaches. The free clinics will be at 19 sports sites in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.

There's only one catch: You can't just show up at a clinic. You have to sign up in advance.

Kids can attend clinics in just about every imaginable sport. All the biggest, most popular sports are here. You can learn baseball at Camden Yards or soccer at RFK or FedEx fields. Or how about shooting hoops at Cole Field House, the home of the NCAA champion Maryland Terrapins?

There also are clinics in the big Olympic sports, such as gymnastics, track and field, and swimming. But what I think is really great is that kids will have a chance to learn about the smaller, lesser-known sports that aren't on TV very often.

Do you like boats? There's a canoeing and kayaking clinic near the Potomac. Or you can learn sailing at the Annapolis Sailing Club.

The Washington Convention Center will be the place to be to try out a bunch of unusual Olympics sports: badminton, fencing, judo, taekwondo and team handball. Never heard of team handball? It's a fun, fast-moving combination of soccer and basketball in which six players on each team try to throw a canteloupe-size ball past a goaltender and into a net.

Mayor Williams and the city are putting on Youth Sports Day for two very good reasons. The first is that Washington is hoping to be the host city of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Washington is one of four U.S. cities still in the running for the world's biggest sports event. If kids around Washington show that they are excited about Olympic sports, maybe that will help the city get the nod for 2012.

The second reason is even better. "I'm concerned about the increasing number of overweight children in our city," Williams said at the announcement of Youth Sports Day. "We need to look for ways to improve the overall wellness of our kids by promoting healthy lifestyles, and we certainly believe that pursuing Olympic and Paralympic sports is an excellent way for kids to learn that physical activity should be a significant part of their lives."

In other words, the mayor wants kids to turn off the TV, get off the couch and spend more time playing the sports they love. Or maybe find a new sport to love.

So what are you waiting for? Get moving and sign up. Sports parties like this don't happen every day.

To sign up for Youth Sports Day, go to www.dc2012.org. You may submit an online registration form or print out a form to complete and mail in. To have a form mailed to you, call 877-625-2012. You'll need to select which sports you want to sample. There is no on-site registration.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company