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What/When/Where: Diving, today at Hamden High, 5 p.m.; Swimming, Wednesday at Southern Connecticut State's Moore Fieldhouse, 5 p.m. Swimmers/Divers to watch: Fairfield Prep: Matt Magura, breaststroke- individual medley; Chris Woolston, backstroke-freestyles; Dan Platow, individual medley-freestyles; Tom Barone, IM-breaststroke, Matt Watson, backstroke-freestyles; Greg Elia, freestyles.

In fact, corporations are stunningly aided and abetted in the fattening of America's children by schools and parents, in whom these children have innocently placed their trust. The reasons for this extraordinary betrayal are various and complicated. Underfunded schools are frankly selling their kids to the food industry, negotiating exclusive and sometimes secret contracts with soda companies -- occasionally with enticing up-front payments. \"Schools get band uniforms and Big Soda gets brand loyalty,\" write [Lisa Tartamella], [Elaine Herscher] and [Chris Woolston]. Many consider themselves dependent on the money from vending machines and fast-food purveyors. (One Florida county school board negotiated a contract with Pepsi-Cola in 2000 worth $13.5 million.) PRIMEDIA's Channel One, now beamed into 12,000 subscribing American schools, gives away \"free\" media equipment in exchange for requiring kids to watch a minimum 12 minutes daily of television programming laden with ads for candy, soft drinks and fast foods. (That adds up to a week out of every school year.) Corporate lobbying undermines attempts to regulate what happens in schools. Today, soft drinks are sold in vending machines in more than 76 percent of public schools in America. Classes in nutrition are futile when the environment sends a different message. At home, busy families rely more often on fast food or takeout and less on home-cooked meals. \"Aim-to-please parents\" often stock fridges and cupboards with sodas and junk food. In supermarkets, food choices are increasingly shaped by advertising, and processed foods often contain surprising amounts of added sugar. Fascinatingly, some modern processes -- for oatmeal, for instance -- actually change the rate at which the foods will be turned into energy; the slow-cooking kind is better. And high-fructose corn syrup, which has replaced sucrose in soft drinks, reduces the production of leptin, a hormone that tells the body it's full. Super- sizing or \"value marketing\" hasn't helped matters either. Poverty can be especially conducive to obesity because low-income parents are intuitively stretching their food dollars by choosing high- density foods that tend to be fattening, and because fresh fruits and vegetables may not be available in low-income neighborhoods. There is hope. The authors of Generation Extra Large cite Maria Golan, a nutritionist at the School of Nutritional Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who believes that \"even in the face of all the unhealthy influences in the world, parents have an astonishing power to shape their kids' eating habits.\" Community pressures can awaken schools to their responsibility to provide nutritious foods and an environment in which healthy choices are possible. New York City banned soda, candy, salty chips and sweet snacks from school vending machines in 2003, and Los Angeles is in the midst of implementing a similar plan. Instead of soda, school vending machines will offer water, milk, sports drinks and fruit- based drinks with at least 50 percent juice and no added sweeteners. Attitudes can change quickly: Philadelphia was contemplating an exclusive soft-drink contract for its public schools in August 2003 but public criticism resulted in the city's proposing a soda ban instead.

GENERATION EXTRA LARGE: Rescuing Our Children from Obesity ELAINE HERSCHER, CHRIS WOOLSTON AND LISA TARTAMELLA. Basic, $25 (272p) ISBN 0-465-08390-0

Konner reviews GENERATION EXTRA LARGE: RESCUING OUR CHILDREN FROM THE EPIDEMIC OBESITY by Lisa Tartamella, Elaine Herscher, and Chris Woolston; OUR OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN: WHAT PARENTS, SCHOOLS, AND COMMUNITIES CAN DO TO CONTROL THE FATNESS EPIDEMIC by Sharron Dalton; CONSUMING KIDS: THE HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF CHILDHOOD by Susan Linn; FOOD POLITICS: HOW THE FOOD INDUSTRY INFLUENCES NUTRITION AND HEALTH by Marion Nestle; and THE WEIGHT OF IT: A STORY OF TWO SISTERS by Amy Wilensky.

Thursday night, however, outfitted with a $250,000 facelift, she sparkled and strutted her stuff for 1,437 fans on opening night. The Peninsula Pilots rewarded the crowd with a run in the bottom of the ninth inning and a 1-0, no-hit victory over Salem. \"The stadium looks like it did when it was new,\" said Herbie Morowitz, who was in attendance that night in 1948 when [Whitey Ford], pitching for the Norfolk Tars, outdueled Wayne Johnson of the Peninsula Baby Dodgers. Staff photo (color) by SCOTT KINGSLEY Root, root for the home team Lewis McMurran IV, 7, cheers at the Peninsula Pilots season opener as he is held by his father Lewis McMurran III. 1,437 fans came to see the refurbished War Memorial Stadium Thursday night and they were rewarded when the home team beat Salem 1-0 in a no-hitter. (Photo ran on page A1)

The new names in the squad are exciting young striker Michael White from Mainland Premier League champion Nelson Suburbs, Ferrymead Bays' experienced goalkeeper Simon Roberts, young Western defender Matt Boyd, Woolston's ex-national league midfielder Chris Morris and Nomads United linkman and captain Andy Pitman. Canterbury's core players are back, including ex-All Whites Ben Sigmund and Glen Collins, defender Michael Lilley and Nelson Suburbs imports Dan Terris and Justin Lucas and striker Jamie Smith. [Danny Halligan] believes it is potentially the best squad he has worked with and thinks it has the talent to clinch a New Zealand Football Championships play-offs berth. Goalkeepers: [James Bannatyne] (Bay Olympic, Wellington), Simon Roberts (Ferrymead Bays). Defenders: Dan Terris (Nelson Suburbs), Nick Tither (Nomads), Ben Sigmund, Michael Lilley (Ferrymead Bays), [Chris McIntosh] (Caversham, Dunedin), Matt Boyd (Western). Midfielders: Justin Lucas (Nelson), Chris Morris (Woolston), [Andy Barron] (Lisburn Distillery, Nth Ireland),Glen Collins (Ferrymead Bays), Andy Pitman (Nomads), James Reichwein (Chch Technical), Daniel Moir (Western). Strikers: [Ben Stafrace] (Brunswick, Melbourne), Jamie Smith, [Stuart Kelly] (Technical), Brent Fisher (Energie Cottbus, Germany), Michael White (Nelson Suburbs).