The program aims to enhance access to sports for the city's youth by funding projects from the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Department.
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Financial advisors of Los Angeles City Hall have recommended a payment of $18.5 million for the latest year of the Youth Sports Program (YSP), an initiative funded by the Los Angeles 2028 Organising Committee. The program aims to enhance access to sports for the city’s youth by funding projects from the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Department. It was launched in 2020 and has been increasing its funding annually, with an additional $900,000 for the new financial year. This will increase the funding available for recreational leagues and classes, and allow the scheme to offer “pilot” sports activities in karate, climbing, triathlon, and fencing.
Para sports will also receive increased funding of $840,000, which includes wheelchair tennis and adaptive archery in a complement of 10 Para sports. The Youth Sports Program also aims to provide sports activities at a cost of no more than $10 per session for individuals at the city’s recreation centers and other facilities. Kayaking and teqball are among the “signature sports” to receive funding for this year. Kayaking will be supported with a grant of $210,000, while teqball, introduced on a pilot basis last year, will receive $200,000.
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The program is set to continue annually until the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games and is similar to the initiative launched in 1984, the last time the Games were held in Los Angeles. The funds were raised by selling the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay as part of a Youth Legacy Kilometer. The Olympic Torch Relay is a long-standing ritual that stretches back to the ancient Greek Olympic Games. In the modern relay, the Olympic flame is lit in Olympia, Greece, and carried by several runners to the city hosting the Olympic Games. Torchbearers carry the flame through many cities and famous sites over the relay’s thousands-mile route, which normally lasts several months. At the opening ceremony, the last torchbearer has the privilege of lighting the cauldron to officially kick off the Olympic Games.
The 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics are international multi-sport competitions planned to take place in and around Los Angeles, California, United States, from July 14 to July 30, 2028, and August 15 to August 27, 2028, respectively. The initial candidature for the Summer Olympics in 2024 came from Los Angeles. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) adopted a procedure to simultaneously award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two remaining applicants, with Los Angeles favored as the 2028 host. This was after numerous cities withdrew and only Paris and Los Angeles were in contention. On September 13, 2017, at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, Los Angeles was officially given the Games.
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