SAN DIEGO — A San Diego teenager is making an extraordinary impact on helping underserved communities while gaining national recognition.
Playing sports is more than just a hobby for Arden Pala — it’s how he changes lives.
At just 15 years old, Arden founded Sports4Kids, a nonprofit dedicated to using sports to empower underserved and homeless children.
The idea started four years ago at Perkins Elementary, where most students are low-income and some are homeless. During a visit, a then-11-year-old Arden, discovering his love of basketball, found out their athletics program was cut due to a lack of funding.
“I knew how much that changed my life. I became more physically active, more mentally healthy; and know that these kids at this school won’t have that same opportunity really struck my heart strings,” he said. “So I started volunteer coaching every Wednesday, coaching some kids, and now that grew into the organization that it is today.”
Sports4Kids is an organization that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help underserved students, introduced 750 children to team sports, distributed more than 25,000 pounds of food, and mobilized 350 youth volunteers to create lasting change in their communities.
Arden was named the 2024 Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year this year.
He says the extra attention has helped his nonprofit raise more money and gather more donations to make an even bigger impact.
“So helpful for keeping our clinics running and hosting events like this, so all that attention is awesome and it’s really bringing a lot of light to the problem that we’re working on fixing,” Arden said.
Darian Vargas says his six-year-old son, Genesys, has been participating in Sports4Kids for a few months; he can already see his son growing out of his shell.
“He actually used to be really shy. He’d be the type of kid who would be sitting down at the tables or on the bench to the side, he wouldn’t want to go up and play, he always wanted to be by himself,” Vargas said. “He’s actually doing really good.”
Vargas says it’s great to see older kids playing with and mentoring his son, who is starting to develop an interest in soccer.
“It means a lot just to see my son be active, actually develop in sports and he gets more confident,” he said. “I just see him getting better and better at it and he feels like it and he gets more confident and he’s actually out here playing with other people.”
Arden hopes their work can bring real change within the San Diego community and nationwide.
“There’s youth out there who genuinely want to help. If we all work together, there’s a lot we can accomplish,” Arden said. “Sports really brings people together, it shows unity.”
The City of San Diego proclaimed February 23 as “Arden Pala Day.” Last May, he received the prestigious Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest volunteerism accolade awarded by the President of the United States.
