LOS ANGELES — As Los Angeles counts down to hosting the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, organizers said one of their biggest goals isn’t simply putting on a successful sporting event. It’s also making sure more young people have the opportunity to discover sports, regardless of where they live or how much money their families have.
That mission is already taking shape at places like Venice Beach, where skateboarding’s southern California roots continue to inspire the next generation.
Skateboarding made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2020 and grew in popularity during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
With Los Angeles hosting in 2028, many in the sport see it as a homecoming.
“It’s exciting. It really is,” Runson Willis said.
Skateboarders at Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles are pictured. (Photo: Nathaniel Gillis, KSL)
Willis, a longtime skateboarder at Venice Beach, feels the sport has never just been about landing tricks. He said it’s a community where newcomers quickly learn they belong.
“It’s a place where we become ourselves, and you feel like you matter,” Willis said. “We try to make sure that even when we meet people from other places, we welcome them and bring them along with us.”
These days, Willis spends much of his time teaching younger skaters and cheering them on.
Runson Willis is pictured cheering on a skateboarder at Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles. (Photo: Nathaniel Gillis, KSL)
“They are around people who are encouraging them, you start to see them progressing because they feel that,” he said.
For teenagers like 16-year-old Antonio Corona, the skatepark offers freedom as much as competition.
“The feeling to go out and be yourself with the board and have fun and truly put your all into it, it’s an amazing feeling,” Corona said.
His friend, 14-year-old Nicholas Nateera, said he enjoys practicing his skateboarding skills and watching it on TV, especially when it was on during the Paris Olympics.
“I don’t know if I will ever have the skills like that, but maybe I will,” he said. “I like the Olympics and just watching it in general.”
With Los Angeles hosting the Summer Games in two years, Corona said he’s been eagerly waiting.
“I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve been looking forward to it for a while,” he said.
LA28 organizers said inspiring young athletes is one of the Games’ biggest long-term goals.
“We’ve committed $160 million of our operating budget to try and increase the participation and accessibility of sports so it’s not based on your zip code,” said John Harper, LA28’s chief operating officer.
John Harper, LA28 Chief Operating Officer, is pictured. (Photo: Nathaniel Gillis, KSL)
That investment includes PlayLA, a youth sports initiative launched after Los Angeles was awarded the Games.
The program gives thousands of children access to sports and recreational activities at little or no cost, with the goal of making athletics available regardless of a family’s financial situation.
One PlayLA event recently brought children together at the Salvation Army Community Center in downtown Los Angeles, where they had the chance to try different sports and activities.
Janet Evans, who won several Olympic Gold Medals in swimming and is LA28’s chief athlete officer, said those experiences for kids could shape future Olympians.
“Right where the heart of the Games is going to be happening, with kids from around the community that will be inspired and learn from the Games and maybe, maybe we’ll see some of them in the years to come,” Evans said.
Janet Evans, Olympic Gold Medalist and LA28 Chief Athlete Officer, is pictured. (Photo: Nathaniel Gillis, KSL)
Harper said organizers hope the Games inspire young people well beyond athletics.
“How do we utilize the Games to motivate youth, whether it’s sport or anything that they do?” he said. “It’s so important to make sure that the youth are connected to the Olympics and Paralympics in this ever-changing digital world.”
For Willis, the most meaningful legacy won’t necessarily be measured in medals. It will be measured in confidence.
“They feel the love, and then they use that, and it’s fuel,” Willis said while helping a skateboarder land a new trick.
He believes the welcoming spirit of Venice Beach is something audiences around the world will notice when Olympic skateboarding returns to southern California.
“It’s something that inspires people even if you don’t skateboard,” he said. “I think that’s the beautiful thing about it.”
If LA28 organizers achieve the legacy they envision, Los Angeles won’t simply become the place where future Olympians are discovered; it will become a place where more young people discover they belong.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.