As a youth sports coach in Plantation, Brett Engelhard noticed his players returning each season a little more overweight and less able to concentrate on the field after they chugged their favorite high-sugar sports drinks.

So this year, he decided to do something about it.

Engelhard, 39, a father of two, hired beverage formulators to develop a natural and nutritious drink loaded with vitamins that would appeal to kids and help combat obesity and juvenile diabetes among children.

They tested nearly a dozen batches on players on his team, kids at school and those in the neighborhood before they got the formula right. The result: KidFit All Natural Thirst Quencher, which is sold at Whole Foods Market stores throughout Florida, Total Nutrition in Weston and Nutrition S'Mart in Pembroke Pines. Some park concession stands in Broward also carry KidFit, and it can be ordered online at www.drinkkidfit.com.

The product has been out since July.

``As a coach, you see these kids each year getting heavier and heavier and having more difficulty focusing on the field after they drink their juice or sports drink,'' said Engelhard, an entrepreneur whose business background is in hotel and restaurant hospitality management.

``I said to my wife, `I'm going to go out and make a drink for these kids that's healthy.' ''

That's how KidFit was born, with no preservatives and 75 percent less sugar than juice or soda.

It comes in three flavors -- berry, fruit punch and orange -- and each eight-ounce serving contains only three grams of sugar, 20 calories and nine essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients, including vitamin A, vitamin C and six different B vitamins.

An 8-ounce serving of Gatorade has 14 grams of sugar and 50 calories. Four grams equals one teaspoon of sugar so that serving of Gatorade contains 3 ½ teaspoons of sugar. A glass of apple juice has 26 grams of sugar, 6 ½ teaspoons, and 120 calories. A can of soda contains 39 grams of sugar, almost 10 teaspoons, and 140 calories.

``The more sugary drinks a child has the heavier they are,'' said Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, a New York pediatrician who has an online weight management program for children and adolescents at www.drweigh.com.

She said water is the best drink to give your child for replenishing fluids after exercising because sports drinks are little more than sugar water with electrolytes -- which she said most children don't need.

But getting kids to give up flavorful drinks isn't always an option, parents say.

KidFit contains less than a teaspoon of sugar and few carbohydrates, which is why Marilou Raham of Coral Springs and her 15-year-old daughter, Megan, have become big fans of it.

Megan has juvenile diabetes and has to monitor her blood sugar throughout the day. But with KidFit, she doesn't worry because it is low in sugar and carbs.

``Finally, I have a drink that tastes good that I can sip all day without having to check my sugars or anything,'' Megan said.

Her favorite KidFit flavor is fruit punch. Her sister, Lindsay, favors orange, and her parents prefer berry.

``I can't say enough good things about it because it's perfect for my family,'' Raham said. ``It's healthy and it doesn't interfere with her diabetes. We all enjoy drinking it.''

KidFit is selling so well at Whole Foods stores in South Florida that the company wants to make it available in stores statewide, said Russ Benblatt, the company's regional marketing director in Fort Lauderdale.

``The feedback from customers has been so incredibly positive and so tremendous,'' Benblatt said. ``We're getting comments e-mailed to us and customers are stopping team members in our stores telling them how much they like KidFit.''

Engelhard said he wants to get KidFit into other stores in the state as well as outside Florida, and plans to create more flavors.

His goal is to donate a portion of profits to children's health causes.

Although his business background is in hotel and restaurant hospitality management, Engelhard seems undaunted by the job of marketing his own product. His wife, Stefani, and children, Noah, 9, and Brayden, 5, have pitched in to help.

``We're creating a brand,'' he said.

``We want this to be a drink for all kids and their parents.''

So far, Engelhard has received e-mails from people like Michelle Pope, a 6-foot-1 marathon runner and Plantation mother of two.

Her 8-year-old son, Jake, no longer has to sit out football seasons because of his size. He was 5 feet tall and 120 pounds before losing weight -- his size would have put him on a team with much older kids. He has dropped 12 pounds, partly by eliminating sweet drinks, and now can play on a team closer to his own age.

``If my kids want a drink, they can have water, KidFit or milk,'' Pope said.

``I'm always on the go and there are times I grab a KidFit because it tastes good and I know it is good for me.''