As part of its ongoing efforts to enhance youth sports worldwide, the National Alliance For Youth Sports will be providing much-needed training and resources to restructure youth sports programs throughout Dominica.

The partnership between Dominica - an island approximately four times the size of Washington, D.C. located in the Eastern Caribbean - and the Alliance was officially announced over the weekend.

"By and large, sports provide a wonderful experience for millions of children here in our country," said Fred Engh, founder and president of the Alliance. "Our organization is dedicated to expanding these opportunities to other countries throughout the world so that all children can benefit from participating in programs that focus on their physical and emotional well-being.

"Part of the Alliance's focus will be to assist in training adult volunteers in Dominica who will eventually serve as coaches and league administrators for newly created programs that will be set up throughout the country this year.

"The launching of these sports programs in Dominica will provide a worldwide model for other countries and show that programs that are conducted by trained administrators, coaches and parents can have an enormous impact on children," Engh said.

In his address at the official announcement of the partnership, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit stated that the country needed to provide children with positive leisure time activities to prevent them from drifting to negative influences such as drugs and crime, and he emphasized that sports are one of the greatest tools to do that.

Joining the prime minister at the launching were embassy representatives from the Republic of China, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, as well as Nicholas Liverpool, the President of Dominica; and Loreen Bannis-Roberts, the Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth Affairs for Dominica, who played an instrumental role in forging the relationship with the Alliance.

"I am looking forward to working with the Alliance on behalf of children in this region of the world to help enhance not only their sports experiences, but their overall health and well-being," said Bannis-Roberts, who was part of a special international delegation that attended last year's International Youth Sports Congress in Atlanta, Georgia.

During the three-day meeting in Dominica representatives from the Alliance's Start Smart Sports Development Programs trained parents on how to best work with children in a youth sports setting. They also provided equipment to launch a series of Start Smart programs, which teach children as young as 3-years-old basic throwing, catching, kicking and batting skills needed for a fun and successful youth sports experience.

The Start Smart programs have been used in more than a dozen countries around the world. They have proven to be extremely useful in providing children with a solid foundation of skills, and the confidence to perform them in a competitive setting.

"We are starting with a clean slate in Dominica," Engh said. "We have a wonderful opportunity to help thousands of children here, and this will happen by educating everyone involved on the true value of sports and operating programs in the proper manner from the outset."