Children in Queretaro, Mexico, will have an opportunity to participate in sports thanks to a recent move by the government that will allocate $100,000 over the next two years toward implementing the Game On! Youth Sports program in Queretaro.

Funds will also be utilized to organize the first Latin American Game On! Youth Sports Summit, to be held in Queretaro in 2008. Queretaro is quickly becoming the pioneering state of Mexico in raising awareness about and addressing the need to provide positive and safe sports to its youth residents.

This landmark decision was marked by a ceremony in Mexico earlier this month attended by Fred Engh, president of the International Alliance for Youth Sports (IAYS) – which created the Game On! Youth Sports program – as well as IAYS board member Dr. Michael Gray and Arturo Cevallos, the Mexico-based Latin American Representative for Game On! Youth Sports.

“Having the Mexican government recognize the importance of and necessity for a program like Game On! Youth Sports, and allocate funding to promote sports among Queretaro’s children is truly monumental,” Engh said. “I hope other governments around the world will follow this example.”

Game On! Youth Sports, the signature program of the IAYS is a first-of-its-kind approach that creates opportunities for children who otherwise would not have a chance to participate in healthy physical activities.

The goal of Game On! Youth Sports is to address all issues that hinder the development of sport programs for children, such as a lack of funding, inadequate facilities, non-existent or poor equipment, transportation and appropriate programming. Manuel Gonzalez Valle, the municipal president of Queretaro, expressed his excitement about bringing the Game On! Youth Sports program to Queretaro.

“I am pleased with this project because it is very positive and it focuses on society,” he said.

Cevallos echoed his sentiments, and said the opportunity to provide sports to the children of Queretaro has come at just the right time.

“If you do not invest into the Game On! Youth Sports program,” he said, “you will have problems. But now we have the commitment that will help us to do it right.”

For more information visit the IAYS Web site at www.iays.org or call 1-(800)-729-2057.