By Brandon HENSLEY

Clayton Frech is a man in his late 40s with the vocal inflection of a SoCal dude much younger. After talking with him, you get the impression that he might invite you out to a skate session to shred some gnar and go watch “Point Break” afterward.

But Frech’s tubular way of speaking belies the substantive work he and his Angel City Sports team members have put in within the past decade to bring awareness to a culture that he believes still has blinders on.

Frech’s desire to provide opportunities for people with physical disabilities or visual impairments runs deep, which is why he helped create Angel City Sports. The LA-based organization puts on year-round clinics for athletes spread across the region, as well as holding annual summer games. According to the website, it is “the largest multi-sport Paralympic competition open to kids, adults and veterans.”

Frech, who grew up in Santa Barbara, never imagined he’d have a life in sports or disability. That changed with the birth of his son Ezra 15 years ago. Ezra was born with physical disabilities.

But even as a small child, Ezra displayed a passion for sports.

“He learned how to count his twos by watching Laker games before he knew he ones,” Frech said. Eventually, Ezra “became an incredible basketball player,” with the help of several operations and a running blade.

In 2016, Ezra spoke to the Golden State Warriors before a late season game (the Warriors won an NBA-record 73 games that year). He told them he wanted to be the first amputee player in the NBA.

It was several years earlier when Frech had his “lightning bolt moment” when he took 8-year-old Ezra to the Endeavor Games in Oklahoma. There they met Olympians, and Ezra set records in tracks events.

They had a blast, but Frech, who has two other younger boys, was upset there wasn’t anything like this in Los Angeles.

“I was motivated,” he said. “I asked, ‘Why do I have to come to Oklahoma to play sports?’ It’s a really simple question if you’re living with a disability … you don’t have good access to sport.”

While an organization like Special Olympics helps people with intellectual disabilities, Frech said it’s been a struggle to get people to understand Angel City Sports is for the physically impaired.

Outreach is important. In 2019, Angel City Sports held over 70 clinics on the weekends. The growth of the organization is important to him.

“We’re aggressively looking to grow the experience. Most people don’t know anything like this exists,” he said.

Nothing like this comes cheap. The more exposure Angel City Sports receives, the more opportunity it has to obtain resources to pay for equipment, such as golf chairs that let para-golfers stand up and hit off a tee as if they had legs. Frech said each sport has its own equipment requirements.

“You need a specific chair for each sport. It’s crazy. And they’re thousands of dollars. If a pair of running shoes costs you $2,000, when are you going to get running?” he said.

The first Angel City Games launched in the summer of 2015. This year, because of safety concerns surrounding COVID-19, the games were virtual, with athletes taking part in challenges at home. Frech described it as “not overly competitive” but remarked how well the coaches and organizers did under tight pressure.

“Our team learned a lot. We learned overnight how to put together virtual programming. I think as an organization it was a really good process to go through,” he said. “I’m always going to want more athletes involved, but we had over 400 athletes. I’m pretty stoked on that.”

The Angel City Sports Summer Games are usually a celebrity-filled event with stars such as Adam Sandler making appearances. This year, former Lakers star Paul Gasol gave a virtual keynote speech while the closing ceremonies included musical performances from pop singer-songwriter Emmanuel Kelly, with appearances from Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Demi Lovato.

In 2028, Los Angeles will host the Summer Games, and the Paralympics will be there in conjunction. Frech said the kind of outreach that went on in London when it hosted in 2012 helped Paralympians become almost celebrity-like. He wants to see that happen locally before the decade closes. Ezra will mostly likely be competing in track. It sounds like something to be stoked about.

“Hopefully we can follow the London model,” he said. “I think 2029, when everyone packs their bags and heads out of town, we have this amazing moment in history, maybe a once-in-a-century moment, to pivot everyone’s idea of disability.”

For more information, visit angelcitysports.org or angelcitygames.org.

  Brandon Hensley