Valley Sites Given Olympic Surplus Funds

The Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles on Thursday allocated approximately $230,000 in Olympic surplus funds to Valley-area programs, including $124,000 for the development of a sports and recreational facility for the disabled at Chatsworth Park South.

The money designated for the park is part of a $1.3 million conditional grant given to the Department of Recreation and Parks for the development of three Adaptive Sports Program Challenge Centers. The centers will provide indoor and outdoor sports along with minor conditioning and gymnastics programs for the general public, said Steve Montiel, the foundation’s vice-president for programs.

Construction will begin following the completion of negotiations with the department, Montiel said.

Chatsworth Park South was selected as the first site because of its proximity to Cal State Northridge’s adaptive teaching program, although no formal agreement has been reached with the university. Elysian Park and Martin Luther King Park, both in Los Angeles, have been selected as the other sites, but their programs will be delayed until Chatsworth’s has been evaluated.

Four other Valley-area programs were among the recipients of 29 grants totaling $2.8 million made Thursday. The foundation also allocated $517,000 for six initiative programs that are designed to meet regional needs that exceed the capacity of individual organizations. Two of the initiative programs--Youth Volleyball and Youth Cycling--will be concentrated in the Valley area.

Valley College will receive $35,000 of a $205,000 grant made to four sites to develop a youth gymnastics program. Designed to increase the number of beginning gymnasts, the program is aimed specifically at attracting 11-to-18-year-old boys and 13-to-18-year-old girls.

In a related grant, Gymnastics Olympica USA, based in Van Nuys, was given $25,000 to expand its mobile training program for children ages 2 to 13.

The foundation also expects to make substantial grants in December, Montiel said. The foundation has allocated $11.5 million in grants and $3 million for initiation programs since the conclusion of the Olympics.

Eleven other Valley-area organizations previously received Olympic grants ranging from $2,000 to $10,000.

OLYMPIC FUND WINDFALL

Valley-area programs that have received Olympic surplus funds since 1985.

Agoura Pony Baseball $5,000 Camarillo Soccer Club $2,500 Chatsworth Park South $124,000 Conejo Youth Basketball Assn. $2,000 Granada Hills Little League $5,000 Gymnastics Olympica $25,000 Rancho Simi District Parks Dept. $5,000 Simi Valley PTA Council $5,000 Simi Valley Youth Baseball League $10,000 Thous. High Baseball Booster Club $5,000 Valley College Gymnastics Center $35,000 West Valley Girls Softball Assn. $5,000 West Valley Soccer League $5,000 Westlake-Agoura Girls Softball $5,000