Children all over Minnesota look up to basketball stars Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen.

This summer, St. Paul kids have a chance to watch them in action — for free.

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Lynx, the city of St. Paul and Visit Saint Paul, the city's convention and visitors' bureau, announced a partnership to provide free tickets, transportation and meals to St. Paul young people and their families for all Lynx home games. The Lynx usually play home games in Minneapolis but will play at Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul this summer while workers finish renovating Target Center.

The Tickets for Kids program will give away 500 tickets to each home game. Visit Saint Paul will provide meal vouchers and free transportation to each person participating in the program. Officials, along with the Lynx mascot, Prowl, announced the free tickets at an event attended by about 150 kids in the gym at the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center.

"The Lynx are true champions both on and off the court," St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said. "The passion this organization has for the game is matched only by the commitment they demonstrate to their fans."

The Lynx will play 17 regular season games at Xcel, with the first at 6 p.m. Sunday. School bus rides to and from each of the games will stop at six St. Paul recreation centers: Arlington Hills, Battle Creek, Hancock, North Dale, Oxford and Palace. Families wishing to participate in the program and attend a game must preregister by visiting or calling any St. Paul recreation center. For more information, go to stpaul.gov/lynx.

"We are excited to be integrating ourselves into St. Paul in every way that we can," said Minnesota Lynx President Chris Wright. "The impact we can have on the community is important to our organization."

James Walsh • 651-925-5041