After two years of competing on and around the UC Davis campus, a major youth sports event is moving east to the Reno-Tahoe area this summer.

The Amateur Athletic Union announced March 5 that the 3rd annual West Coast AAU Junior Olympic Games will take place from July 9-20 in the Reno-Tahoe area. The 12-day event is scheduled to include at least nine sports, including basketball, baseball, diving, martial arts, track and field and wrestling.

"Reno-Tahoe is a destination people are sure to be drawn to," Paul Campbell, chairman of the AAU Junior Olympic Games, said in a press release. "We look forward to having this event there in 2008, and beyond."

The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority and the Nevada Youth Sports Commission and Authority have teamed up to host the event.

Two years ago, the AAU selected UC Davis to host its inaugural West Coast AAU Junior Olympic Games, and the AAU returned to UC Davis and the Davis area in 2007 to put on its second-annual West Coast games.

In 2006 and again in 2007, nearly 1,000 young athletes, mostly between the ages of 5 and 18 came to Davis to compete in the games, which lasted five days in 2006 and nine days in 2007.

Campus and AAU officials had both hoped to attract more participants to the games in Davis, but found that not enough teams participating in the larger-team sports — especially boys' and girls' basketball and baseball — signed up to participate.

— Dateline staff