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El Paso's youth sports culture wasn't transformed overnight. Change began with creation of educational classes for parents, the reaction to a 1999 incident in which one parent attacked another on a football field. It hasn't been easy for El Paso's parks and rec department to convince parents of the classes' viability, but their efforts are paying off.

By catering to families' busy schedules through multiple class sessions held before each new sports season—parents must attend one class per year, and class videos, guest speakers and reference materials are constantly updated—more than 150,000 parents have received preseason training the last five years, and athlete participation has swelled. "Now, when we do the parent classes, it's like paying taxes," says Paula Powell, El Paso's sports operations supervisor. "It's just part of the deal."

Aside from widespread sports offerings including flag football, rugby and hockey, an SI Good Sports-inspired youth summit this year created a forum for college scouts to speak to kids about someday playing sports at the next level. This fall El Paso hosted a community-wide festival called La Fiesta, which joined athletes, parents, coaches and administrators in a Mexican-themed party at which city athletic programs had their own booths. It could have doubled as a celebration of El Paso progress in youth sports. "No kid's gonna be left behind in El Paso," Powell says. "Sports will first be safe and fun. Then we go on from there."

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