Start Smart Baseball Program a Home Run.

Millions of children enjoy fun-filled experiences playing organized baseball and softball every summer.

But many others aren't so fortunate.

Youngsters who are enrolled in sports programs without any of the basic motor skills needed to participate are unfairly being set up for failure.

The Start Smart Baseball program, unveiled to parks and recreation departments last year, has been instrumental in giving children a positive start before they ever set foot on the playing field.

Through the program, children as young as 3 are able to develop basic hitting, catching, throwing, and fielding skills as well as gain confidence in their ability to perform in a competitive setting.

Start Smart Baseball is modeled after the highly successful Start Smart Sports Development Program, which has been used by more than 400 parks and recreation departments nationwide.

"Children who do not have the motor skills or the athletic inclination are afraid to participate and afraid to fail," said Buddy Collins, who participated with his 4-year-old son in a Start Smart program. "But this program says to them, `Yeah, I can hit, I can throw, I can catch.' So when they go into organized sports they're doing the same things that they learned in the Start Smart program."

A recent tee-ball study, which closely examined a 10-team league of 6-year-olds, illustrated just how valuable and necessary the Start Smart Baseball program can be to a parks and recreation department. Findings included:

* Sixty-two percent of all balls hit into play resulted in fielding errors.

* Eighty-five percent of all fly balls resulted in errors.

* Thirty-four percent of all in-field grounders resulted in errors.

* Forty-two percent of the time the fielder committed a throwing error.

These figures are indicative of what happens on playing fields across the country. Children are unrealistically expected to cleanly field grounders, make accurate throws, and get base hits. When they're unable to do these things, frustration sets in.

The Start Smart Baseball program features a series of specially designed drills that have proven extremely successful in developing skills. A unique aspect of the program is that parents can participate right alongside their children using the colorful line of soft, safe, and easy-to-use Koosh equipment.

Parks and recreation departments have embraced this program as a positive tool to properly prepare children for their future athletic endeavors.

For more information, contact the National Alliance for Youth Sports at [phone], or visit the Web site at www.nays.org.