DRUGS AND CRIME SPORTS' BIGGEST ENEMIES SAYS VISITING LECTURER

Aspiring athletes are not immune to the threat of obesity, drugs,
crime and other anti-social behaviour which rank among the biggest
challenges they will face in their development, according to author,
coach and lecturer Fred Engh.

Engh will be the keynote speaker during the Ministry of Youth and
Sports' Annual Conference to be held today at Elbow Beach Hotel (9
a.m.) and the message he brings is a universal, if not, sobering one.

The 70-year old Florida resident is president and founder of the
National Alliance for Youth Sports, a non-profit organisation whose
remit is to create a "positive and safe environment" for all to enjoy
in youth sports in the US.

He is also author of the book 'Johnny Hates Sports', a publication
that scrutinises the current state of sports at youth levels in the US.

"Today's environment is perhaps the most challenging that we have for
young children," he told The Royal Gazette. "They are faced with
issues of crime, violence, drug abuse and other anti-social behaviour.

"Another thing children today are confronted with is obesity which is
a result of the electronic age. A lot of children are no longer
getting out like past generations who were forced to get out and play
and learn how to be creative.

"But I think my greatest concern is that far too many children have
idle time that can lead them into the temptations of drug abuse. Drug
abuse is probably the greatest challenge and problem around the world
that children face and so we have to create alternatives.

"The tremendous temptation of drugs and the money that is involved is
drawing children away and so we have to be able to create in their
minds the end results of that behaviour. By bringing children
together through a sports setting we can instil in their minds the
negative end result of drug abuse and anti-social behaviour - and the
earlier the better."

Only recently a Bermuda Football Association (BFA) study highlighted
the scourge of "inappropriate" social behaviour which has manifested
itself in and around the local football landscape. But perhaps more
alarmingly it also revealed that participants in youth football have
already "established" links to local gangs and, as such, are
restricted from "moving freely between club venues island-wide".

"Sport is a very powerful entity and if we can keep the kids settled
and focused on sports then hopefully we can get rid of the negativity
that takes place," commented Ministry of Youth and Sports Senior
Sports Development Officer Cal Simons.

"We at the Ministry realise that youth play an important part in
Bermuda and felt the need to switch our focus to developing youth
through sports. And so our whole concept going forward is to try and
encourage the national associations to develop their youth through sports."

He added: "Sports are something that bring people together and so our
theme for the conference is developing youth through sports. And we
(Ministry) thought that Mr. Engh, with all of his experience working
with youth, would be a good choice to come here and make a
presentation to the national associations, teachers and anyone else
with a genuine interest in sports."

According to Engh, far too often people underestimate the important
role that sports, in all its various forms, play in the development
of well-rounded citizens in any community.

"What most of us don't realise is the power of sports. Outside of
school is the outside classroom where we all learn about life
skills," he said. "We can learn things such a perseverence, team
work, how to win and lose, training and discipline. All of the things
that we learn in sport carry over into what we do in life, and so
there's some very powerful things that sport has to offer.

"In countries around the world, the bigger the base of the pyramid,
where more children are participating, the more opportunity there is
for them to reach the elite level. But our programme (National
Alliance) isn't about children reaching the elite level in sports,
it's about mass participation and giving every child that opportunity
to learn and gain the value that sports have to offer.

"Everybody has to compete in society and in sport we can learn how to
compete with pride, fair play and ethics which helps to make us all
good citizens. And some day I would like to see that every child is
given the opportunity to learn important life skills through sports."