June 27, 2024 • 16 mins
Aired June 23, 2024: Angel City Sports is a Los Angeles-based non-profit that provides year-round adaptive sports opportunities for kids, adults, and veterans with physical disabilities or visual impairments. They also provide free equipment, coaching, and competitive opportunities. They have a big event, the 10th Annual Angel City Games at the end of June and Lisa Foxx and their Founder CEO, Clayton Frech talk all about it on this podcast.
Since opening, Angel City Sports has provided over 24,000 athlete experiences. Annually, ACS provides 250 clinics per year, across 25 sports like archery, blind judo, blind soccer, goalball, table tennis, track & field, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair football, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair fencing, sitting volleyball and more! Plus, recreational sports like boccia, fitness, golf, rowing, table tennis, toddler games and more and at all NO COST to those with disabilities. Find out more at angelcitysports.org
Event: 10th Annual Angel City Games
Date: June 28th - 30th
Location: Cerritos College
Paralympic style event featuring 16+ adaptive sports- Competition, Clinics, Recreational The Hartford Experience Zone: An immersive area showcasing adaptive sports, vendor booths, and interactive activities.
Free - Open to the public
Since opening, Angel City Sports has provided over 24,000 athlete experiences. Annually, ACS provides 250 clinics per year, across 25 sports like archery, blind judo, blind soccer, goalball, table tennis, track & field, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair football, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair fencing, sitting volleyball and more! Plus, recreational sports like boccia, fitness, golf, rowing, table tennis, toddler games and more and at all NO COST to those with disabilities. Find out more at angelcitysports.org
Event: 10th Annual Angel City Games
Date: June 28th - 30th
Location: Cerritos College
Paralympic style event featuring 16+ adaptive sports- Competition, Clinics, Recreational The Hartford Experience Zone: An immersive area showcasing adaptive sports, vendor booths, and interactive activities.
Free - Open to the public
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Lisa fox Heer, this is theiHeart So Cal Show, our show that
puts a spotlight on chart of organizations, nonprofits and people giving back, and
boy does Angel City Sports get backto those with disabilities. They're an LA
based nonprofit that provides year round adaptivesports opportunities for kids, adults, and
veterans all with physical disabilities or visualimpairments. They also provide free equipment,
(00:24):
coaching, and competitive opportunities. They'vegot a big event, their tenth annual
Angel City Games, free to everybodywho attends at Streeto's College next weekend.
And on to tell us all aboutit is their founder and CEO, Clayton
freck High. Clayton, Hi,how's it going so good? I'm so
fared up. I've been on yourwebsite, Angelcityesports dot org and as fared
(00:45):
up as I am for the tenthannual Angel City Games happening next weekend.
I bet the people with disabilities whoplay sports with you year round are super
pumped up to compete and have somefun. And I bet they just appreciate
how you kind of get them allfart up to compete and play and you
know, enjoy being able to playand just have a good time the whole
(01:07):
weekend. You're so right. Imean, it's honestly, it's what feeds
our souls and our you know,kind of gives us the energy to keep
doing what we do because you're right, our athletes are so grateful. The
ones that no sport exists love havingan opportunity to play and compete. And
then the new athletes that didn't knowsport was possible or get to try a
(01:27):
new sport, it blows their mindsand that's really what keeps us going.
I mean, but this is like, you guys help people accomplish and compete
in sports of every kind of sport, from archery you do, blind soccer,
you do, goalball, table tennis, track and field, wheelchair basketball,
wheelchair football, wheelchair tennis, wheelchairfencing, city volleyball. I mean,
(01:53):
you got creative. If you guysdo, you offer it all to
help people. Really, you know, there's a little bit of something for
everybody, and probably many athletes Iwant to play a whole bunch of different
sports because they want to dive inand try it all. You're absolutely right.
So you know, we sort offall under the Paralympic system. So
two weeks after the Olympic Games,the Paralympic Games will be held, so
we'll be the Paralympics will be lateAugust, and there's twenty two Summer Paralympic
(02:15):
sports and so I think we've gotfifteen or more of the summer Paralympic sports
being offered at the Angel City Games. And what's special about the Paralympics and
the sports that they offer, andthis would sort of also apply to the
Angelcy Games, which is some sportsare really pretty specific to a disability and
so those sports are great for thatcommunity. But then some sports are really
(02:38):
broad in their appeal. So sportslike track and field and swimming and archery,
almost every disability type can participate inthose sports. And then some sports
are more catered, so you know, wheelchair rugby is really for quadriplegics,
and sitting volleyball is essentially an amputeesport, although some others can play.
(02:59):
So yeah, so it's really it'san incredible world of sport that most people
probably don't know anything about. Butthat's why we do these events to not
just get the athletes excited, butget the broader community to see them meet
these athletes and understand what adaptive andParalympic sports are. So your Angel City
Sports, your tenth annual Angel CityGames is taken over Torino's College for an
(03:22):
entire weekend and of this month Junetwenty eighth, twenty ninth, and thirtieth,
and it's all free. Anyone couldjust show up in the Cheerley's athletes
on and be a part of it. Absolutely. I mean, we love
an RCP, you know, asa spectator, volunteer athlete, just so
we could keep track our heads.But yeah, anyone, it's a community
event. Everyone's welcome to come.And here's what's so cool about the Angel
(03:43):
City Games and some of our otherbigger events as well, which is,
you know, athletes will sign upand they they can do a clinic and
they can learn, or they canthen stay and do you know, a
tournament or some type of competition.But for anyone that joins us, there's
a bunch of sports that they cantry in what we call the Hartford Experience
Zone. So this is sort ofour vendor fair expo has It'll have a
(04:05):
bunch of sports there happening all weekendlong, and so people can jump in
at the clinics as well, butthere's we literally have created this you know,
Hertford Experience Zone for the community,the broader community come and have something
to do, so families, right, there's lots to do for little kids,
you know, for that again forthe broader community. It's really it's
(04:28):
kind of powerful to see all thedifferent disability types in one place and that
actually the disability is normal in thispart of right at the Angel City games
like it's a sort of normal timebecause there's so many people. Sure,
yeah, we'll be like we'll beoutnumbered, yes, yes, yes,
So it's really good, you knowif you think about raising children to be
(04:50):
kind and thoughtful and understanding and empatheticto people that might look different than them.
It's a really powerful place. Welland especially you know every you're the
Ellie Marathon, whether you watch iton TV. I've survived a few full
Ellie Marathons, survived, but I'vemostly kind of conquered more than half marathons
for charity Clayton. But watching youknow, when they do the wheelchair race
(05:13):
before the runners even start, You'relike, who am I to complain about
anything? It is so inspiring tosee them out there and the strength and
their arms and doing what they're doingand doing the whole route and just kicking
some you know what. It's like, Wow, so inspiring to know people
have gone through so much and they'restill going through it but using sports to
kind of fuel that fuel that allthat energy, and gosh, it must
(05:36):
make them feel really good to accomplishsomething so great, you know, to
do so well in sports after whatthey've been faced with, you know,
yeah, absolutely absolutely. You know. The thing that breaks my heart is
so about ninety percent of our communityhas acquired their disability. So you know,
my son Ezra was born essentially anamputee, but that's a small percent.
(06:00):
It's less than ten percent problems.So most people in our community are
acquiring that disability. And I gotto tell you at Leasta, so many
of them don't even understand sport ispossible for them, and so that really
breaks my heart. And so that'swhy, you know, getting the word
out through you know, your programand you know, hosting an event like
Angelcy Games that's open to the community, it's really important because we don't want
(06:24):
anyone to you know, lose alimb or have an injury right and not
know that sport is possible and evenjust basic physical activity. Right, It
doesn't everyone's going to compete and goto Paralympic games. That's not the point.
This is about living a healthy,active, optimized life, and so
(06:46):
it seems to many that that's beentaken away when they acquire disability, and
so we want to be there forpeople to get them back into the game
of life. Yeah. On yourwebsite, angelcitysports dot org, I was
looking at some of the featured athletesstories and like you said, you know,
some people are born with a disabilityor a challenge, or a limb,
something with their limb, or allkinds of things can happen when a
(07:10):
person's born. So you've got someof those stories like little Taylor who was
born with a unique limb. Butthen you got Jason who was paralyzed after
a ski trip to Mammoth That couldhappen to anybody. Or Joe who went
to Hawaii and had that freak Sturphenaccident, paralyzed from the waist down,
or Christian who lost his leg aftera hit and run car crash. I
(07:30):
mean, these are things that couldhappen to every day people. And next
thing, you know, like,how do you get past that? How
do you get your life back?And how do you have things look forward
to and not want to be depressedand feel like my life is over?
And it sounds like you guys areall about keeping people busy, getting them
pumped up and getting them excited tofeel like, hey, you could do
wheelchair lacrosse. You think you can't, but you can. You can do
(07:53):
orchery. You can do all thesethings because we're gonna help you do it.
I mean, what I like tosay is like you can pretty much
do anything. It might be donedifferent than you're used to or you you
know that you've seen, but prettymuch everything can be done, whether it's
surfing, skateboarding, rock climbing,right all these more traditional sports like basketball,
et cetera. And you know,I tell the story occasionally, but
(08:15):
you know, when my son wasborn and we left the hospital, you
know, he was a surprise forus in terms of his disability at birth.
We didn't realize that was, youknow, the case. And we
left the hospital with a really goodprescription around prosthetics and surgeries and you know
that kind of stuff. But noone mentioned that he could play sports.
As I was leaving that hospital.And so my personal journey was that I
(08:39):
got kind of depressed that summer.I call it my sad summer. Looking
back at so silly, I wasjust ignorant, but it's true. I
just left the hospital thinking, oh, I'm not going to be able to
play sports with my son. I'mnot going to really go surf with him,
you know, Like I was asurfer from Santa Barbara and that was
like always my dream was to surfwith my kids, and I thought that
had been taken away from me.And so a little bit of the spirit
(09:01):
of what Angel City Sports is ismaking sure that you know that that dad,
the mom and sibling, you knowthat leaves the hospital with a loved
one doesn't ever have to think thatat physical activity, right, whether it's
skiing, hiking, surfing, etcetera, is off the table. It's
not. It's just going to bedone a little differently. Yeah, And
you know, and you guys helppeople year round with all this love of
(09:24):
sports and sports activities and classes andcamps. You got the tenth annual Angel
City Games come up at the endof June. But you guys have been
around a little more than ten yearsyou're right, I know, and thank
you to IHAR Radio for being ourpartner for so long. You know,
the idea came to me in twentythirteen that I needed to bring a big
event like the Angel City Games toLos Angeles and yeah, and we launched
(09:48):
the first one in twenty fifteen.And so this is our tenth annual Games.
But over the years we keep addingprograms and offerings for the community,
and so yeah, we'll do youknow, well, over two hundred clinics
this year, touch probably a thousandathlete. You know. We have a
weekend in the in the winter forjust kids, and then we have a
weekend in the fall for veterans andfirst responders. We have a kids camp
(10:11):
coming up in July and San Diego. So we're really trying to do as
much as we can to change thelives out there and and inspire this community
to live as physically active life.I love it. And yeah, I
was going to ask you, youknow again, it's tough to kind of
count everybody, but but you workwith about a thousand people throughout the year,
(10:31):
about a thousand athletes with disabilities.Yeah, yeah, we'll touch about
a thousand athletes a year. Now, and I like the language on your
website. You know, growing upback in the day, we used to
say handicap. I like your yourphrasing as adaptive sports. Touch on that,
Yeah, I mean, language evolves, you know, I mean we
used crippled thirty forty years ago.Yeah, we used handicap. And so
(10:54):
some of these words are sort ofphasing, you know, phasing out.
We call all sports that have beenaltered through equipment or rule changes, and
sometimes the sports have been created justfor the community, but we call those
adaptive sports. And so, uh, you know, sitting volleyball, volleyball
with a lower net where everyone's sittingon the floor, or wheelchair tennis where
(11:18):
you know, the athlete in thein the wheelchair gets two bounces, everything
else is the same. And sothat's kind of how we in the community
would define adaptive sports. And youknow, the for those that might be
interested in this space, the ParalympicGames, again, you know, held
two weeks after the Olympic Games,are just a subset of this broader adaptive
(11:39):
sports world. And so, youknow, certain sports are are contested at
the Paralympic Games both summer and winter, but it's really an incredible community.
These sports are These sports are reallyinteresting. The athlete backstories are powerful.
So yeah, we I feel likethis movement is just going to continue to
grow as people, you know,learn more about it and discover it.
(12:01):
Sure, sure, I mean,do you have a favorite or is there
one that's more popular or more unique? Do you have a few that stand
out? I mean, wheelchair fencingsounds pretty exciting, but you probably have
many favorites. So my son Ezra'son the track US Paralympic Track and Field
team, So I'm a little bitpartial to track and field, but I
do spend a lot of time onthe track or watching track competitions, right,
(12:24):
you know, wilchair basketball is probablythe most popular sport in terms of
just pure participation numbers. But honestly, Lisa, I like the sports that
allow our athletes to integrate into society, to either run alongside able bodied or
you know, tennis is a greatexample. You can play up down right,
(12:45):
you can play the seated athlete getstwo bounces that you know, the
stand up standing athlete gets the sameone bounds as normal. Golf is another
one where, once you figure itout, we do a lot of adaptive
golf. You know, you cango golf with your friends, so I
like that part of it. We'realso, you know, looking to expand
into like hiking and some things likethat, to just get people out together
(13:05):
in community. Because listen, atthe end of the day, the sports
are beautiful. Physical health is soimportant, but the social and emotional benefits
of being part of a community that'sgoing to love you except you not judge
you for your disability. Here youon and sure you on. Yeah,
yes, Like honestly, I didn'treally realize that there was this much love
(13:28):
and kindness in the world, andit's amazing. So if you can come
to the Angels of Games, it'scome on out. It fills your soul
no matter who you are. Ibet okay, we're hoping we're going to
have a full house and it's allfree, free to everybody. The tenth
annual Angel City Games. So manycool matches happening over the course of that
three day weekend June twenty eighth,twenty ninth, and thirtieth. Next weekend
(13:52):
Friday, Saturday Sunday, all freeat Torito's College and Clayton for people listening
who might have a disability or knowsome one with a disability who wants going
to in sports and wheelchair basketball,wheelchair tennis and rowing and golf and all
of these cool things with Angel CitySports. Does is there a cost associated
with this? Does it cost moneybecause you do these clinics and camps year
round? Does it cost money?Just about everything we do is free.
(14:18):
The Angel City Games are free.We have had a nominal charge, but
we've always allowed people to ask foryou know, a free code if they
needed it. So yeah, prettymuch. You know, we have a
limit, a small charge for ourcamp this summer there in San Diego,
five days. But if people youknow, need need you know, essentially
scholarship, we can we can giveit to them. So we don't want,
we don't want costs for anything tobe a barrier. And you know,
(14:41):
and this year we made the gamesjust free, just sign up.
That's great. And you also evenfor people who might be a slow,
slow start for the for the actualsports. You also do fitness classes and
even have a book club. Yes, talking about baby steps, we can
start with the book club. BoI'm just started the pandemic as a way
(15:01):
to just keep people together. Butyeah, we're just still continuing we'll do
a little readings and things with authors. So yeah, okay, great,
and again just like research I did, I did, I was all over
that Angel Citysports dot org, yourwebsite. It's a wealth of information there
and again to get people, encouragepeople to get more involved in just to
know that you exist this great sportscommunity, adaptive sports community for so many
(15:24):
who may be a need and wouldlove to be a part of this community.
Of course, to come out andjust experience it all via the tenth
Annual Angel City Games Sorito's College Junetwenty eighth, twenty ninth, and thirtieth
and enjoy the Hartford Experience Zone,played one on one something ourselves. Right,
we can participate a little bit whilewe while we're there. It's all
free, open to the public.All the info on everything in terms of
(15:46):
the games and their programs year round. Just go to angel Citysports dot org,
Angelcityesports dot org and I'm sure AngelCity Sports on Instagram as well.
Right on the ground exactly. Yeah. Clayton Freck, the CEO and founder
of Angel Cities Sports, thank youso much for getting there, buddy pumped
up for the tenth annual Angel CityGames, and thanks for all that you
do to get people inspired and givethese athletes a reason to stay inspired and
(16:11):
get to physically fit and psyched aboutthe games. So yeah, thank you,
oh, thank you, Li So. I really appreciate your support on
this and thank you for you toput the spotlight on orders like ours that
are just you know, doing thehard work on the ground out here,
and it's really it feels great tobe acknowledge. So thank you so much.
You're welcome. We'll see the games. Woo. Thank you.
Lisa fox Heer, this is theiHeart So Cal Show, our show that
puts a spotlight on chart of organizations, nonprofits and people giving back, and
boy does Angel City Sports get backto those with disabilities. They're an LA
based nonprofit that provides year round adaptivesports opportunities for kids, adults, and
veterans all with physical disabilities or visualimpairments. They also provide free equipment,
(00:24):
coaching, and competitive opportunities. They'vegot a big event, their tenth annual
Angel City Games, free to everybodywho attends at Streeto's College next weekend.
And on to tell us all aboutit is their founder and CEO, Clayton
freck High. Clayton, Hi,how's it going so good? I'm so
fared up. I've been on yourwebsite, Angelcityesports dot org and as fared
(00:45):
up as I am for the tenthannual Angel City Games happening next weekend.
I bet the people with disabilities whoplay sports with you year round are super
pumped up to compete and have somefun. And I bet they just appreciate
how you kind of get them allfart up to compete and play and you
know, enjoy being able to playand just have a good time the whole
(01:07):
weekend. You're so right. Imean, it's honestly, it's what feeds
our souls and our you know,kind of gives us the energy to keep
doing what we do because you're right, our athletes are so grateful. The
ones that no sport exists love havingan opportunity to play and compete. And
then the new athletes that didn't knowsport was possible or get to try a
(01:27):
new sport, it blows their mindsand that's really what keeps us going.
I mean, but this is like, you guys help people accomplish and compete
in sports of every kind of sport, from archery you do, blind soccer,
you do, goalball, table tennis, track and field, wheelchair basketball,
wheelchair football, wheelchair tennis, wheelchairfencing, city volleyball. I mean,
(01:53):
you got creative. If you guysdo, you offer it all to
help people. Really, you know, there's a little bit of something for
everybody, and probably many athletes Iwant to play a whole bunch of different
sports because they want to dive inand try it all. You're absolutely right.
So you know, we sort offall under the Paralympic system. So
two weeks after the Olympic Games,the Paralympic Games will be held, so
we'll be the Paralympics will be lateAugust, and there's twenty two Summer Paralympic
(02:15):
sports and so I think we've gotfifteen or more of the summer Paralympic sports
being offered at the Angel City Games. And what's special about the Paralympics and
the sports that they offer, andthis would sort of also apply to the
Angelcy Games, which is some sportsare really pretty specific to a disability and
so those sports are great for thatcommunity. But then some sports are really
(02:38):
broad in their appeal. So sportslike track and field and swimming and archery,
almost every disability type can participate inthose sports. And then some sports
are more catered, so you know, wheelchair rugby is really for quadriplegics,
and sitting volleyball is essentially an amputeesport, although some others can play.
(02:59):
So yeah, so it's really it'san incredible world of sport that most people
probably don't know anything about. Butthat's why we do these events to not
just get the athletes excited, butget the broader community to see them meet
these athletes and understand what adaptive andParalympic sports are. So your Angel City
Sports, your tenth annual Angel CityGames is taken over Torino's College for an
(03:22):
entire weekend and of this month Junetwenty eighth, twenty ninth, and thirtieth,
and it's all free. Anyone couldjust show up in the Cheerley's athletes
on and be a part of it. Absolutely. I mean, we love
an RCP, you know, asa spectator, volunteer athlete, just so
we could keep track our heads.But yeah, anyone, it's a community
event. Everyone's welcome to come.And here's what's so cool about the Angel
(03:43):
City Games and some of our otherbigger events as well, which is,
you know, athletes will sign upand they they can do a clinic and
they can learn, or they canthen stay and do you know, a
tournament or some type of competition.But for anyone that joins us, there's
a bunch of sports that they cantry in what we call the Hartford Experience
Zone. So this is sort ofour vendor fair expo has It'll have a
(04:05):
bunch of sports there happening all weekendlong, and so people can jump in
at the clinics as well, butthere's we literally have created this you know,
Hertford Experience Zone for the community,the broader community come and have something
to do, so families, right, there's lots to do for little kids,
you know, for that again forthe broader community. It's really it's
(04:28):
kind of powerful to see all thedifferent disability types in one place and that
actually the disability is normal in thispart of right at the Angel City games
like it's a sort of normal timebecause there's so many people. Sure,
yeah, we'll be like we'll beoutnumbered, yes, yes, yes,
So it's really good, you knowif you think about raising children to be
(04:50):
kind and thoughtful and understanding and empatheticto people that might look different than them.
It's a really powerful place. Welland especially you know every you're the
Ellie Marathon, whether you watch iton TV. I've survived a few full
Ellie Marathons, survived, but I'vemostly kind of conquered more than half marathons
for charity Clayton. But watching youknow, when they do the wheelchair race
(05:13):
before the runners even start, You'relike, who am I to complain about
anything? It is so inspiring tosee them out there and the strength and
their arms and doing what they're doingand doing the whole route and just kicking
some you know what. It's like, Wow, so inspiring to know people
have gone through so much and they'restill going through it but using sports to
kind of fuel that fuel that allthat energy, and gosh, it must
(05:36):
make them feel really good to accomplishsomething so great, you know, to
do so well in sports after whatthey've been faced with, you know,
yeah, absolutely absolutely. You know. The thing that breaks my heart is
so about ninety percent of our communityhas acquired their disability. So you know,
my son Ezra was born essentially anamputee, but that's a small percent.
(06:00):
It's less than ten percent problems.So most people in our community are
acquiring that disability. And I gotto tell you at Leasta, so many
of them don't even understand sport ispossible for them, and so that really
breaks my heart. And so that'swhy, you know, getting the word
out through you know, your programand you know, hosting an event like
Angelcy Games that's open to the community, it's really important because we don't want
(06:24):
anyone to you know, lose alimb or have an injury right and not
know that sport is possible and evenjust basic physical activity. Right, It
doesn't everyone's going to compete and goto Paralympic games. That's not the point.
This is about living a healthy,active, optimized life, and so
(06:46):
it seems to many that that's beentaken away when they acquire disability, and
so we want to be there forpeople to get them back into the game
of life. Yeah. On yourwebsite, angelcitysports dot org, I was
looking at some of the featured athletesstories and like you said, you know,
some people are born with a disabilityor a challenge, or a limb,
something with their limb, or allkinds of things can happen when a
(07:10):
person's born. So you've got someof those stories like little Taylor who was
born with a unique limb. Butthen you got Jason who was paralyzed after
a ski trip to Mammoth That couldhappen to anybody. Or Joe who went
to Hawaii and had that freak Sturphenaccident, paralyzed from the waist down,
or Christian who lost his leg aftera hit and run car crash. I
(07:30):
mean, these are things that couldhappen to every day people. And next
thing, you know, like,how do you get past that? How
do you get your life back?And how do you have things look forward
to and not want to be depressedand feel like my life is over?
And it sounds like you guys areall about keeping people busy, getting them
pumped up and getting them excited tofeel like, hey, you could do
wheelchair lacrosse. You think you can't, but you can. You can do
(07:53):
orchery. You can do all thesethings because we're gonna help you do it.
I mean, what I like tosay is like you can pretty much
do anything. It might be donedifferent than you're used to or you you
know that you've seen, but prettymuch everything can be done, whether it's
surfing, skateboarding, rock climbing,right all these more traditional sports like basketball,
et cetera. And you know,I tell the story occasionally, but
(08:15):
you know, when my son wasborn and we left the hospital, you
know, he was a surprise forus in terms of his disability at birth.
We didn't realize that was, youknow, the case. And we
left the hospital with a really goodprescription around prosthetics and surgeries and you know
that kind of stuff. But noone mentioned that he could play sports.
As I was leaving that hospital.And so my personal journey was that I
(08:39):
got kind of depressed that summer.I call it my sad summer. Looking
back at so silly, I wasjust ignorant, but it's true. I
just left the hospital thinking, oh, I'm not going to be able to
play sports with my son. I'mnot going to really go surf with him,
you know, Like I was asurfer from Santa Barbara and that was
like always my dream was to surfwith my kids, and I thought that
had been taken away from me.And so a little bit of the spirit
(09:01):
of what Angel City Sports is ismaking sure that you know that that dad,
the mom and sibling, you knowthat leaves the hospital with a loved
one doesn't ever have to think thatat physical activity, right, whether it's
skiing, hiking, surfing, etcetera, is off the table. It's
not. It's just going to bedone a little differently. Yeah, And
you know, and you guys helppeople year round with all this love of
(09:24):
sports and sports activities and classes andcamps. You got the tenth annual Angel
City Games come up at the endof June. But you guys have been
around a little more than ten yearsyou're right, I know, and thank
you to IHAR Radio for being ourpartner for so long. You know,
the idea came to me in twentythirteen that I needed to bring a big
event like the Angel City Games toLos Angeles and yeah, and we launched
(09:48):
the first one in twenty fifteen.And so this is our tenth annual Games.
But over the years we keep addingprograms and offerings for the community,
and so yeah, we'll do youknow, well, over two hundred clinics
this year, touch probably a thousandathlete. You know. We have a
weekend in the in the winter forjust kids, and then we have a
weekend in the fall for veterans andfirst responders. We have a kids camp
(10:11):
coming up in July and San Diego. So we're really trying to do as
much as we can to change thelives out there and and inspire this community
to live as physically active life.I love it. And yeah, I
was going to ask you, youknow again, it's tough to kind of
count everybody, but but you workwith about a thousand people throughout the year,
(10:31):
about a thousand athletes with disabilities.Yeah, yeah, we'll touch about
a thousand athletes a year. Now, and I like the language on your
website. You know, growing upback in the day, we used to
say handicap. I like your yourphrasing as adaptive sports. Touch on that,
Yeah, I mean, language evolves, you know, I mean we
used crippled thirty forty years ago.Yeah, we used handicap. And so
(10:54):
some of these words are sort ofphasing, you know, phasing out.
We call all sports that have beenaltered through equipment or rule changes, and
sometimes the sports have been created justfor the community, but we call those
adaptive sports. And so, uh, you know, sitting volleyball, volleyball
with a lower net where everyone's sittingon the floor, or wheelchair tennis where
(11:18):
you know, the athlete in thein the wheelchair gets two bounces, everything
else is the same. And sothat's kind of how we in the community
would define adaptive sports. And youknow, the for those that might be
interested in this space, the ParalympicGames, again, you know, held
two weeks after the Olympic Games,are just a subset of this broader adaptive
(11:39):
sports world. And so, youknow, certain sports are are contested at
the Paralympic Games both summer and winter, but it's really an incredible community.
These sports are These sports are reallyinteresting. The athlete backstories are powerful.
So yeah, we I feel likethis movement is just going to continue to
grow as people, you know,learn more about it and discover it.
(12:01):
Sure, sure, I mean,do you have a favorite or is there
one that's more popular or more unique? Do you have a few that stand
out? I mean, wheelchair fencingsounds pretty exciting, but you probably have
many favorites. So my son Ezra'son the track US Paralympic Track and Field
team, So I'm a little bitpartial to track and field, but I
do spend a lot of time onthe track or watching track competitions, right,
(12:24):
you know, wilchair basketball is probablythe most popular sport in terms of
just pure participation numbers. But honestly, Lisa, I like the sports that
allow our athletes to integrate into society, to either run alongside able bodied or
you know, tennis is a greatexample. You can play up down right,
(12:45):
you can play the seated athlete getstwo bounces that you know, the
stand up standing athlete gets the sameone bounds as normal. Golf is another
one where, once you figure itout, we do a lot of adaptive
golf. You know, you cango golf with your friends, so I
like that part of it. We'realso, you know, looking to expand
into like hiking and some things likethat, to just get people out together
(13:05):
in community. Because listen, atthe end of the day, the sports
are beautiful. Physical health is soimportant, but the social and emotional benefits
of being part of a community that'sgoing to love you except you not judge
you for your disability. Here youon and sure you on. Yeah,
yes, Like honestly, I didn'treally realize that there was this much love
(13:28):
and kindness in the world, andit's amazing. So if you can come
to the Angels of Games, it'scome on out. It fills your soul
no matter who you are. Ibet okay, we're hoping we're going to
have a full house and it's allfree, free to everybody. The tenth
annual Angel City Games. So manycool matches happening over the course of that
three day weekend June twenty eighth,twenty ninth, and thirtieth. Next weekend
(13:52):
Friday, Saturday Sunday, all freeat Torito's College and Clayton for people listening
who might have a disability or knowsome one with a disability who wants going
to in sports and wheelchair basketball,wheelchair tennis and rowing and golf and all
of these cool things with Angel CitySports. Does is there a cost associated
with this? Does it cost moneybecause you do these clinics and camps year
round? Does it cost money?Just about everything we do is free.
(14:18):
The Angel City Games are free.We have had a nominal charge, but
we've always allowed people to ask foryou know, a free code if they
needed it. So yeah, prettymuch. You know, we have a
limit, a small charge for ourcamp this summer there in San Diego,
five days. But if people youknow, need need you know, essentially
scholarship, we can we can giveit to them. So we don't want,
we don't want costs for anything tobe a barrier. And you know,
(14:41):
and this year we made the gamesjust free, just sign up.
That's great. And you also evenfor people who might be a slow,
slow start for the for the actualsports. You also do fitness classes and
even have a book club. Yes, talking about baby steps, we can
start with the book club. BoI'm just started the pandemic as a way
(15:01):
to just keep people together. Butyeah, we're just still continuing we'll do
a little readings and things with authors. So yeah, okay, great,
and again just like research I did, I did, I was all over
that Angel Citysports dot org, yourwebsite. It's a wealth of information there
and again to get people, encouragepeople to get more involved in just to
know that you exist this great sportscommunity, adaptive sports community for so many
(15:24):
who may be a need and wouldlove to be a part of this community.
Of course, to come out andjust experience it all via the tenth
Annual Angel City Games Sorito's College Junetwenty eighth, twenty ninth, and thirtieth
and enjoy the Hartford Experience Zone,played one on one something ourselves. Right,
we can participate a little bit whilewe while we're there. It's all
free, open to the public.All the info on everything in terms of
(15:46):
the games and their programs year round. Just go to angel Citysports dot org,
Angelcityesports dot org and I'm sure AngelCity Sports on Instagram as well.
Right on the ground exactly. Yeah. Clayton Freck, the CEO and founder
of Angel Cities Sports, thank youso much for getting there, buddy pumped
up for the tenth annual Angel CityGames, and thanks for all that you
do to get people inspired and givethese athletes a reason to stay inspired and
(16:11):
get to physically fit and psyched aboutthe games. So yeah, thank you,
oh, thank you, Li So. I really appreciate your support on
this and thank you for you toput the spotlight on orders like ours that
are just you know, doing thehard work on the ground out here,
and it's really it feels great tobe acknowledge. So thank you so much.
You're welcome. We'll see the games. Woo. Thank you.
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