We also offer training on conflict resolution, job training and how to write resumes - it's a life skills program,'' says Jose Ruiz, who runs the Boston version of this Major League Baseball initiative called RBI, for Reviving Baseball in the Inner City. The New England Revolution are starting to kick in with comparable support for youth soccer. More progress needed One only has to ride around the city during the summer to see the sports offerings that thousands of kids take advantage of. There's golf instruction in Franklin Park, tennis in Hyde Park, and sailing in Jamaica Plain. It's all here, we've just got to pull it together,'' Bill Linehan, operations chief for the city Parks and Recreation Department, says as he leads a tour of city programs. ''To leave the resources out there and wait for kids to come just doesn't happen anymore.
Money is the big thing.
The public convocation will eventually break down into smaller committees to work on issues such as getting more girls playing at earlier ages, breaking down racial barriers between teams and leagues, upgrading the training of coaches, and generally bringing more young people back into the games and keeping them there. Harvard, you bet, and BU and BC and UMass-Boston.