By Mekhi Abbott
Special to the AFRO
mabbott@afro.com
Fight For Children, an organization focused on using sports to improve the lives of youths, sent students in the Washington D.C. area back to school in style this year. Offering free backpacks, school supplies and haircuts, the organization held their Youth Sports Day held on Aug. 24. The event highlighted the importance of youth participation in physical activity, while showcasing the teams and programs in the area that families can put their children in for educational and recreational purposes.
Youth Sports Day was held at the Fields at Robert F. Kennedy Campus in Anacostia Park. Sponsors and partners for the event included Gatorade, Under Armour, 37 nonprofit organizations from Fight For Children Youth Development Institute and all of the D.C.-based professional sports organizations.
“Unfortunately, youth sports have become out of reach for a lot of families. If you want to put your kid into a quality soccer program, you’ve got to have $300 in disposable income for maybe six to eight weeks of play,” said James Kallusky, president of Fight For Children. “It’s become a business and unfortunately, it left a lot of families out that just can’t afford that. What we’ve done is assembled nearly 40 nonprofit organizations that are high quality youth sports programs that puts kids first. They focus on the whole child.”
Although the event was catered towards showcasing the sport and recreational activities that Fight For Children and other organizations in the D.C. area have available for free or low costs, Kallusky also wanted to make sure that children are being given the opportunity to have access to resources that improve their performance in the classroom as well as their overall livelihood.
“We focus on the development of the child, not just the athlete. We have tutoring programs, college readiness programs and mentorship programs,” aid Kallusky. “After school, if kids don’t have any programs or teams available to them, they can be out getting in trouble. These programs keep kids in school, out of trouble and keep kids healthy physically and mentally. We are just trying to bring awareness to these programs.”
Youth Sports Day 2024 marks the second year that the event was put on by Fight For Children. In its inaugural year, attendance was at about 500 people, according to program coordinator Marc Shapiro. This year, that number grew to almost 2,000.
Gatorade, one of the biggest sponsors at the event, provided water, a dunk tank, a cooling station and plenty of free merchandise. Under Armour provided 500 free backpacks and food vendors such as La Raza and DC Mexicano Grill provided free food for the community from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. EST.
“We are about to start a program called E.A.T.S., which stands for ‘early access to sports’. We will be utilizing our 37 youth sports organizations and connecting the community to them by either bringing the programs into D.C. public schools or bringing the first through third graders to sites where our programs or organizations operate… We really want to eliminate the transportation barrier,” said Shapiro.
Also provided at Youth Sports Day were physicians for youth eye exams, physicals and wellness checks. Games and activities included flag football, rock climbing and soccer. Shapiro said that Fight For Children hopes to continue to make Youth Sports Day an annual event and “something that is a D.C. staple for the end of the summer” with kids going back to school.
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