Read to your childen: 

Reading with your children is one of the most magical, wonderful, delightful and powerful gifts you can share with your children... you will raise them to love the written word... to learn to follow a story and to dwell in the realm of their imagination, where the words conjure images as they follow along, listening to your voice and anticipating what comes next.... 

In the very early stages, they fit snuggly, next to you, a convenient place from where they can look at the pictures, (great illustrators are as significant as the writers) while they listen.   As they get older, they can follow your reading while they lay in bed, or as in our family, we played children's books (always unabridged) on the tape player (CD's were still not quite ubiquitous) in the car.  By three years old, they were well versed in books  such as Black Beauty, the Winnie the Pooh stories by Milne, Roald Dahl, Aesop's fables, and of course, you must teach your children the stories of Chicken Little and The Emperor has no Clothes, as these along with The Wizard of Oz will help them at an early age to understand the political folly of man (and I use this term to include both sexes). 

I was never much for getting down on the ground and playing games with my childen when they were babies or toddlers... Reading to them was how I spent time with them, besides the other means of caring for them.  Both dad and I loved reading to them.  I bought lots of childen's books.  I wish I had used the library more, and there are pluses and minuses to having collected our books and kept them in the house.  I used epoxy coated wire shelves with a lip, mounted at an angle using the hardware sold for storing and displaying shoes, to display display the books, so that the children could easily find the books they wanted to have me read to them.  Most of the first books were soft back and hand no spine to display the title if the book was shelved conventionally.  I had a wall dedicated to displaying their books, and it consisted of three shelves all six feet long.  As soon as they could walk, they'd waddle over to their home made book (display) case and select two books each for reading time. 

Reading time was at least twice a day.  I was addicted to it, and so was my husband, so the boys would always get at least two readings, but often it would happen more often than that. 

Once the boys were in elementary school, reading to them became less frequent, at bedtime, and sometimes during the day, on weekends, or if requested, but the reading time became longer at bedtime.  And the books more complex.  Johnny Tremain, Island of the Blue Dolphins... Too many to list... There are so many wonderful books to share with your children... Don't miss out on this wonderful promise of parenting... There is too much to lose...

Both of the boys are avid readers.  They love all kinds of genres of books. One them is an avid National Geographic Magazine reader.  They read Sports Illustrated, the local paper, and have become habitual readers of more and more sections of the Wall St. Journal.  

Next, raising readers is not mutally exclusive of raising competitive athletes.  One is a competive baseball player, on course to play college baseball in Hawaii this year and the other plays both baseball and football as a senior in high school and his prospects look good.