Transcript

There is a new bill on the governor's desk that would help provide the framework to create a youth sports department in the state, and it comes at a time when Los Angeles will be the global focus of sports, from the FIFA World Cup next year to the LA 28 Olympics. Here's Lolita Lopez. A kill in volleyball or goal in soccer. Moments of triumph for young people playing the sports they love you for all the people behind Assembly Bill 749 Youth sports for all, which includes five time NBA champion Laker Derek Fisher, say the real win is what sports does for kids, physical and mental well-being. Sports definitely helps to anchor sort of mental Wellness. That's Renata Simril, head of the play equity fund and also the CEO and president of the LA 84 Foundation, the foundation which has used. Resources from the LA 84 Olympics helps provide young people with access to sports. She says for all of those they have helped over the decades, many kids are still left wanting because did you know it was really systemic issues that were keeping kids from sport plan movement. PE is an unfunded mandate one to two days a week. Recess until just recently was not a mandate. AB 749 is a study bill to study the creation of a youth sports Commission or department in the state of California. She says that. The mission would help bring together academics, community organizers and healthcare professionals to answer these types of questions. How can we do better by our youth? What's working, what's not working? And what might a youth department look like so that we can better serve the youth of the state of California and Lolita? This is coming right at the moment where the global gaze is coming to Los Angeles. And what a great legacy when Los Angeles would once again be hosting the Olympic Games for the third time in its history to leave a legacy of a youth sports. Department in the state of California, we think that'd be pretty cool. Sports is such a transformational tool and resource for positive youth development, for whole child development and we as a society forgotten how to play. The bill currently has no opposition on file in both the state Assembly and Senate. It is currently on the governor's desk. The governor's office tells NBC 4 it does not comment on pending legislation. Lolita Lopez, NBC 4 News.