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Hard by the banks of the Rock River in northwestern Illinois and otherwise surrounded by farmland, Sterling is a small, diverse, hard-working town of 15,500. The well-to-do mix easily with their more blue-collar townsmen, and the vibrant culture of Sterling's large Latino population is alive in restaurants and other businesses.

Nowhere is this sense of inclusion more evident than in the town's youth sports, which are guided by a simple principle: Everybody should play. It starts from the earliest age, with the annual Pumpkin Dash (above), a run for everyone from toddlers to teens. "We're doing our best to get kids off the couch," says Michael Clark of the Sterling Park District, which coordinates programs in 20 youth sports (and more than 500 programs for Sterling-area citizens of all ages). "It's a good problem when we are trying to find practice times for all the activities."

More than 3,500 kids are active in Sterling Park youth sports each year, and every one gets a trophy. The town keeps fees low, offers financial assistance for qualifying families and has open membership, so kids from other towns don't have to pay more to use the courts of the gleaming Westwood Sports and Expo Center, the skateboard park, the roller hockey rink or other facilities. "They do the extra work to include everybody," says Gabriel Ocampo, a Mexico-born Sterling resident, father of three and soccer coach. And the payoff? "You see the advantages that kids who play sports have," Ocampo says. "They're more outgoing. They're respectful. They know how to have fun."

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