Sports program participant wins national honor

Mai Xiong is only 10 years old, but the 5th grader from Hilgado Elementary School in Fresno has already won a national award in a university program.

Last summer, Xiong attended the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP) at Fresno State and drew a picture that won a logo design contest sponsored by the program. Xiong's artwork went on to be judged best of all the entries in the nation.

Xiong was recently honored at the NYSP's annual meeting, held in Orlando, Fla., from Jan. 16 to 18. Xiong said she was excited about her first place prize - an all expense-paid trip to Orlando, including a hotel stay for two, food and passes to Disney World.

"More than 182 sites across the nation host the NYSP with thousands of children ages 10 to 16 participating in the program," said Dr. Donna Pickel, program administrator and professor of kinesiology at Fresno State. "Mai's logo will be used for T-shirts, posters, banners, applications, and a variety of educational promotions for the NYSP, including the cover of the NYSP calendar."

Pickel said she was more than delighted to have Xiong win the contest. "All the kids were so excited to have her win a prize of this magnitude," she said.

Brett Mar, activity director for the program, said that the primary goal of the NYSP is to bring students, especially those at risk or economically challenged, to a college campus where they can experience campus life. He hopes the program will encourage kids to go to college. Mar teaches at Tioga Middle School and received his bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Fresno State.

"One of the objectives of the NYSP is to enable university faculty, staff and students to participate more fully in their community and in the solutions of community

problems," said Pickel. "This program also provides a combination of employment and on-the-job training in sports instruction and administration for local high school participants in training programs funded by the Fresno Private Industry Council."

More than 30 Fresno State students worked with Mar as instructors and group leaders in the six-week NYSP last summer. They provided instruction in softball, tae kwon do, tumbling, volleyball, basketball, track, and swimming, as well as life skills in areas like personal health, career opportunities, higher education, nutrition, drug and alcohol awareness.

Funded by the federal government, the program is provided free of charge to students selected by their schools and social service agencies. Thirteen California colleges and universities hosted the program last summer. Fresno State averaged 225 children per day.

Xiong's award was just icing on the cake, according to Mar, who thought the summer program was a huge success.

Mar said that next summer the NYSP expects more than 80,000 children to participate from across the nation. Fresno State has hosted the NYSP for four years and received a Meritorious Award last summer for being an outstanding program.

For information, call Mar at 278-2314.