Angel City Sports hosted its 10th Annual Angel City Games at Cerritos College from June 28-30. The three-day festival featured clinics and competitions for 18 different adaptive sports, including goal ball, blind soccer, para golf, and powerlifting.
Angel City Sports co-founder and Paralympian Ezra Frech noted how the festival provides a safe space for people with different abilities.
“It’s about people who find their community, their people,” Frech said. “This is a real home, a real community for these athletes … I’m just honored to be a part of such a special organization.”
Since the inception of the Games, Angel City Sports has went on to provide sports clinics and programming throughout the year. A new goal is to make the Games like the Paralympics for every athlete by 2028, in time for the Los Angeles Paralympics.
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“We have an opportunity to educate the fans and even volunteers that might help with [the 2028 Paralympics],” said Angel City Sports co-founder Clayton Frech. “Then finding athletes that get inspired, want to train for the Paralympics.”
Allen Fowlkes attended the Games this year to participate in wheelchair basketball and powerlifting. Fowlkes, a husband and father of three, attended to not only compete but to network.
“There’s one organization that’s gonna help me get a basketball chair so I can get on a team,” Fowlkes said. “Some of the guys I was playing with, they were professional, and they were saying “you got a shot, you should get on a team.””
The Games have also attracted countless Paralympians throughout the years who have returned to mentor young and novice athletes. Matt Scott, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist who competed in five Paralympics, frequents the Games. He is an athlete ambassador for The Hartford, a company that donates adaptive sports equipment to para-athletes.
When Scott started his wheelchair basketball career at 15, being a recipient of a proper wheelchair for competition helped him become a Team USA athlete.
At the Games, The Hartford awarded young athlete Carolanne Link with adaptive sports equipment. Another young athlete, Chris Adamson, won The Hartford Achievement Award.
“At the Angel City Games, I’ve been coming probably since the second one, I’ve seen a lot of these donations happen,” Scott said. “I’ve seen some of these kids go from little kids to Paralympians. It’s been a very, very amazing journey.”
In previous years, Damon Whittaker participated in archery clinics at the Angel City Games. This year, he coached the archery clinics. Whittaker recently competed in the archery Paralympic trials.
“The individuals and people with Angel City [Sports] has helped me a lot. They assisted me with getting my equipment,” Whittaker said. “What I’m trying to do is bring more awareness, not just with the individuals with disabilities but also individuals in my community to come out and start trying it.”
One of his students during the weekend was Yadria Perdomo who has dreams of going to the Paralympics and being a pro archer.
“I want to continue to practice my sport because I feel fly when I shoot,” Perdomo said. “If you’d like to improve, you have to practice every day, so that’s what I do.”
