Sunday, August 18, 2013

Thousands Turn Out for Youth Sports Festival

Youth-Sports-Festival33The Santa Clarita Valley Youth Sports and Healthy Families Festival was held at the Santa Clarita Activities Center on Saturday.


“This is our fifth year and what this event is intended to do is introduce kids to a variety of physical activities, get them out and get them playing,” said Richard Carr, recreation supervisor for youth sports for the city of Santa Clarita.” Also, they can learn about eating healthy and creating healthy eating habits.”


 


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The event began at 10 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. with more than 2,000 people coming to the event, said Carr.


More than 20 sports including tennis, golf, football, hockey, volleyball, baseball, rock climbing, interactive fitness equipment and trampoline jumping were at the event


Whole Foods, Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Kings, Lancaster JetHawks, USTA Southern California, Valley Trails Summer Camp, Vista Valencia, My Gym, Body Art Celebrations and Kidz Love Soccer sponsored the event.


“The great thing about this event is that everything is free,” Carr said.


There were many sports to choose from, although the archery, kyaking and the rock climbing were most popular.


Kids of all ages, even adults were able to test out new sports and learn from professionals.


Non traditional sports, such as SCUBA, snorkeling and boxing were available to try out.


The Healthy Families part of the festival was added this year by Kaiser Permanente and Whole Foods.


Kids learned about healthy eating habits and were able to make their own snacks. The Healthy Families also included fun games, face painting and a My Gym obstacle course.


“We hope that these kids will find an activity that they could take an interest in and become more active,” Carr said.


-Jessica Boyer




Thousands Turn Out for Youth Sports Festival