“Equal opportunity levels the playing field.”

This is what is stated on the Chance Sports website to capture the new nonprofit’s sense of urgency about raising money so young Denver-area athletes can participate in more club sports, both locally and on the road.

“... and makes it about the talent not the success,” the website continues. “The reason a kid doesn’t make it shouldn’t be because they don’t have the opportunity.”

State Sen. James Coleman, D-Denver, and former state Rep. Colin Larson, R-Jefferson County, created Chance Sports in late 2022, with the goal of helping low-income families play on a club basis in basketball, football, volleyball, track and field, cheer, field hockey, soccer and more. They formed the idea from when the two served together on an education committee at the state legislature.

They joined up with the Daniels Fund, which gave Chance Sports $300,000 and pledged another $200,000 to encourage matching donations. The late cable pioneer Bill Daniels, a former Golden Gloves boxer, said that his sports participation drove his massive business success in the cable industry.

“It means more opportunities for our youth to compete at a high level because it’s more affordable,” Coleman said. “They’re really great kids, great athletes, and they’re committed and want to play but they can’t afford it.”

Chance Sports debuted in late March. In the news conference, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said the city would give at least $200,000 to the nonprofit to match the Daniels Fund. The money will come from the $12.5 million the city got from the Broncos sale.

Scholarships range from about $1,000 to about $3,000 per athlete, per year/season.

The new organization gave its first scholarships this winter to Denver basketball players. Athletes in other sports will receive money later this year.

The average U.S. family pays about $900 each year for one child’s primary sport, taking into account equipment costs, monthly fees, participation fees and travel expenses.

Chance Sports “is designed to help increase participation and to help supplement the costs for travel, fees and equipment,” said Rodney Bates, who has coached the Lady Blackhawks girls’ basketball team for 14 years, and overall has 24 years as a coach.

“It allows young ladies in my program to have the opportunity to showcase their talent at a national level,” Bates said. “In some households, college is not a conversation because of the costs. But because of their skill and being able to demonstrate this at a national level, they have a chance to get a scholarship and follow aspirations beyond sports. In the last 13 years, we’re talking about hundreds of young ladies playing year-round.”

His first group of players were in the fourth grade when he formed the team. They graduated from high school in 2020.

“We have about 15 young ladies that went to college,” Bates said. “We want to give them the tools they need to go to college. Competitive basketball is very expensive. If we can break down that cost, more participate and the more we’ll see them do something really positive.”

The benefits? Larson pointed out that being involved in sports can help boost GPAs, can contribute to better mental and physical health, closer friendships, high rates of volunteerism and voting in later years.

There’s talk about spreading the program throughout the state and eventually to other states.

“Our vision is to help out the kid that wants a chance to play,” Coleman said. “I know at some point we wanted to scale our organization, but do it right. Take care of home first.”