114 Under-privileged Kids Will Learn about Sports, Nutrition and Life from Olympic and World-Class Athletes

Santa Ana, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 08/02/2010 -- The Olympic Academy, an Orange County, Calif.-based non-profit organization under the direction of U.S. Olympians and dedicated to providing world-class mentoring and instruction for young student athletes, today announced that it will host its first charitable sports camp with KidWorks on August 2-4, 2010. The mission of the Olympic Academy, is to teach, inspire, and motivate young student athletes from ages 8 to 18 to excel at the skills needed be prepared for the next level in their lives while illuminating the importance of bringing the ideals of good sportsmanship, teamwork, and discipline into all other areas of their lives. Santa Ana, Calif.-based KidWorks aims to transform challenged neighborhoods within Santa Ana, Calif., by building on the strengths and potential in the community through education, character formation, and personal development.

The free sports camp will bring together some of the United States’ top athletes and more than 114 children from KidWorks at the Jerome Center, a 14-acre community center and park recently renovated by the City of Santa Ana, located at 726 S. Center Street.

The world-class coaching staff, who will introduce the children to the skills behind baseball, basketball and soccer, as well as a healthy lifestyle, will include:
• Genai Kerr, Olympic Academy founder, was a member of the Men’s U.S. Water Polo Team, playing in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. He was also a founding faculty member of Sage Hill School in Newport Coast, Calif.
• Slavko Kljestan, from Bosnia, was a semi-professional soccer player in Željezni?ar Sarajevo. He coached six Olympic soccer players in the Bejing Games in 2008. His son, Sacha Klijestan is a member of the Men’s U.S. National Soccer Team.
• Taylor Bills, an American ex baseball player and reality television star, playing for Arizona League Seattle Mariners and recently winning ABC's reality television show “True Beauty.”
• Lauren Collins, now on the cover of Runner’s World (July 2010), is a graduate of University of Calfiornia, Irvine, winner of the UCI Alumni Association Lauds & Laurels Outstanding Student-Athlete Award, and UCI high jump and heptathlon record holder.
• Michael Fitzhugh, A current life skills coach and certified personal trainer, and programs director for at risk youth.

For more information about the sports camp benefitting the children of KidWorks, please contact Mike Galindo at Olympic Academy at (877)824-7656 or (949)954-707 or Ava Steaffens at KidWorks, (714)834-9400 x103.

About The Olympic Academy
The Orange County based, Olympic Academy, a 501(c)3, offers academic tutoring and sports camps, clinics, and private and semi-private instruction with the top athletes, educators, and coaches in the country. The Academy was founded by U.S. Olympian Genai Kerr, who believes that the skills needed to be a successful student athlete? good sportsmanship, teamwork, discipline, and the commitment to setting and reaching goals? translate directly to the game of life. Kerr, who served as team captain and goalie for the U.S. Water Polo team, also has roots in academia as a founding faculty member of Sage Hill School in Newport Coast, Calif., and who embraces a lifestyle of balancing rigorous physical training with intellect and creativity.

About KidWorks
The mission of KidWorks is to restore at-risk neighborhoods one life at a time. Our vision is to transform challenged neighborhoods within central Santa Ana, California by building on the strengths and potential in the community through education, character formation and personal development. Our first outreach programs were launched in 1994 in a converted apartment on Townsend Street. Today KidWorks fills a 10,000 square foot community center in the same neighborhood located in the heart of the Federal Empowerment Zone, serving 3,000 community members each year and 350 children and parents each week. In addition to this site we have a center located a few blocks away on Townsend Street. This center serves 75 students weekly. Overall, the goals of KidWorks programs are to be a model of community transformation by building on existing community assets; to be a safe haven for youth and families; and to be a place for learning, nurturing, and leadership development.