PlayLA, the youth sports programme developed by the Local Organising Committee, has been delivered to telling effect by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

"We're expanding the programme this year, and we'll have an impact on more kids," said Los Angeles 2028 chief executive Kathy Carter.

"By the time we get to 2028, we're hoping somebody will be walking into the Opening Ceremony who started in PlayLA."

The initiative is making sport more accessible to children and young people between the ages of 5 and 17 ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The investment involved, with the backing of the International Olympic Committee, is the single largest commitment to youth sports development in California.

Los Angeles 2028 has announced that since its launch in 2021, PlayLA has invested $30 million (£25million/€28million) in youth sports and expanded its programming to cover 35 Olympic and adaptive sports.

The scheme has reached 90,000 children, one third of whom are between the ages of 7 and 10.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles 2028 has pledged to impact more than one million children by 2028.

Carter said: "PlayLA is our major commitment to the kids of Los Angeles: to reduce barriers of entry for kids who might not otherwise have a chance to continue to play.

"It’s about providing them with an opportunity."

For the 2022-23 school year, PlayLA has expanded its programming to include adaptive sports such as Para swimming, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball, visually impaired and blind football, Para equestrian, sitting volleyball, adaptive skateboarding and Para surfing.

Los Angeles 2028 also recently approved funding to extend hours for more classes, and to cover the cost of transport and National Governing Body (NGB) membership fees for PlayLA participants so that they can compete in NGB-sanctioned competitions and events.