July 25, 2005

HAYWARD, Calif. - The Mountain West Conference and Learning Through Sports today announced that the Straight From The Heart, Inc. youth services program was awarded free access to STAR Sportsmanship - a Web-based software program teaching children about good sportsmanship and how to avoid steroid use. Straight From The Heart offers life achievement programs for disadvantaged youth and it will use the STAR Sportsmanship as part of its behavioral development program.

Straight From The Heart will use STAR Sportsmanship in its Serve-n-Learn Sports and Academic program -- a unique combination of after-school sports, arts, academic enrichment and youth development that introduces at-risk youth to non-traditional inner-city sports activities, while expanding their horizons to achieve in life. Serve-n-Learn youth learn about good sportsmanship, social competency, leadership, physical fitness, health and academic excellence as part of the sporting experience. Because many young people today associate sports success with professional contracts and wealth, the Serve-n-Learn model focuses on building positive character and behavioral skills for overall life success.

"Serve-n-Learn is dedicated to helping young people reach beyond the bounds of their social limitations by opening their vision to arts, sports, and education," said Clifford Chapman, executive director of Straight From The Heart. "We will use STAR Sportsmanship to teach children how their behavior affects themselves, their bodies and others--a very empowering lesson for our young people who often lack avenues for growth and truly do not understanding what they do can affect not just themselves but society as a whole."

Learning Through Sports and the Mountain West Conference -- one of the top collegiate athletic conferences comprised of nine Division I-A institutions - are engaged in a sportsmanship initiative to combat the epidemic of poor sportsmanship and abuse of performance-enhancing drugs. Through the partnership, the two groups hope to raise awareness about the need for linking competitive activities and education with good sportsmanship and avoidance of performance-enhancing drugs.

"Straight From The Heart expects to build on the success of this unique collaboration, as other Bay Area school districts seek to use our model as an interactive educational program designed to impact the lives of young people," said Coach Chapman. "We have already begun building a strong program in Hayward, and will look to expand into neighboring communities from the national notoriety this opportunity will bring." "The Mountain West Conference is pleased to provide the STAR Sportsmanship program to such a deserving program as Straight From The Heart and their Serve-n-Learn Sports and Academic Programs," said Craig Thompson, commissioner of the Mountain West Conference. "We applaud the program for their dedication to youth and for providing a much needed service to those children who are on the edge. Straight From The Heart's results are impressive and they are very worthy of our support."

STAR Sportsmanship is a web-based role-playing computer program for elementary students (www.learningthroughsports.com). With STAR, children are taught to STOP before making an unwise decision, THINK how their actions affect themselves and others, ACT promptly to demonstrate good sportsmanship and REPLAY how they handled the situation and learn from it. Also included are motivational messages about good behavior from sports celebrities. STAR Sportsmanship won the 2005 Best Educational Software Awards (BESSIE) sponsored by the ComputED Learning Center in San Diego, Calif.

About Straight From The Heart, Inc.
Founded in 2001, Straight From The Heart, Inc. (www.sftheart.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, community-based organization serving at-risk youth in Richmond, Oakland, and Hayward, Calif. Straight From The Heart's mission is to positively impact the lives of inner city youth and to empower them to become successful, healthy citizens through programs that combine sports, academics, and social skills building (including mentoring and youth involvement opportunities).

About the Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference (www.themwc.com) is one of the top collegiate athletic conferences in the country and is comprised of nine Division I-A institutions including, The United States Air Force Academy, Brigham Young University, Colorado State University, University of New Mexico, University of Nevada - Las Vegas, San Diego State University, Texas Christian University, University of Utah and the University of Wyoming.

About Learning Through Sports
Learning Through Sports (www.learningthroughsports.com) is an education publisher using interactive sports games to teach core subject areas and behavioral skills development for grades K-12. The company publishes Kid's College, a Web-based math and language arts/reading program, STAR Sportsmanship, a Web-based role-playing program for youth teaching how to make good decisions on and off the playing field, and provides Edugaming services for corporations and athletic organizations teaching youth a variety of skills utilizing highly engaging, custom branded online sports games.