On April 5, New York City Sports Commissioner Kenneth J. Podziba will welcome the Children's Sport and Fitness Expo to St. Francis College in Brooklyn. The inaugural Brooklyn Children's Sports & Fitness Expo will offer participants a day of exercise, education and fun. The Expo will introduce children ages 5-18 to sports activities, nutrition classes and health screenings aimed at encouraging children and parents to choose healthier lifestyles. Participants will also be given information on how to further their training in each of the programs offered. The Expo will begin at 10:00am and is free to the public.

"In New York City we have an epidemic as 43% of our children are overweight or obese and much of this is due to inactivity," said Commissioner Podziba. "This disturbing statistic indicates that New York City's children need to be more conscious of leading healthier and more active lifestyles. The Children's Sports & Fitness Expo aims to provide our city's youth with the information needed to make healthier choices in their lives."

The Brooklyn Children's Sports & Fitness Expo will introduce participants to over 25 sports activities ranging from archery, golfing, fencing, hula hoping, gymnastics, wrestling and dancing - all free of charge. Nutrition classes and health screenings for children and their parents will also be available as a means of encouraging healthier lifestyles. As an added bonus, there will also be celebrity guest appearances and musical performances. Each child that participates in at least three sports clinics and one health screening will receive a gift bag filled with items and information promoting a healthy and active lifestyle.

"I believe that if children have an opportunity to participate in a variety of activities, they will find a sport or exercise they love and will continue for the rest of their lives," said Body Sculpt President Vincent Ferguson.

Partners and sponsors for the first Brooklyn Children's Sports & Fitness Expo include: New York City Sports Commission, Forest City Ratner Companies, WABC-TV, AmeriGroup Community Care, United Federation of Teachers (UFT), Greater Southern Brooklyn Health Coalition, Emmis Communications, News 12 Brooklyn, Radio Disney, Brooklyn Family, City of New York Parks and Recreation, 1199 SEIU, and DC37.

To learn more about the Brooklyn Children's Sports & Fitness Expo and event registration please visit www.www.bodysculpt.org.

Body Sculpt of New York, Inc. is a not-for-profit, health and fitness organization, whose purpose is to educate parents and children about childhood obesity and offer healthy lifestyle alternatives, particularly in physical fitness and nutrition. Body Sculpt of New York, Inc. is a not-for-profit physical fitness/drug prevention organization for youth. The organization consists of men and women who travel throughout the New York Tri-state area performing acting skits on stage. This is the organizations way of spreading "sound mind/sound body" principles to the children of New York City.

The New York City Sports Commission is the mayoral agency charged with attracting, facilitating and promoting professional, amateur and scholastic sports events in New York City. The Sports Commission has played an integral role in creating or developing many new sporting events, including the NFL Kickoff Live from Times Square, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series™ Champions Week, the BMC Software NYC Cycling Championship, the AVP Brooklyn Open, the NAUTICA NYC Triathlon, the NYC Half-Marathon, the Union Square Street Sessions presented by Jeep®, the Wild Onion Urban Adventure Race, and the Men's Health Urbanathlon.