Park City High School student and Latinos in Action Vice President Victoria Rosales went to France to participate in the Festival 24 de Sport dans la Ville in July. The festival brought over 500 young athletes from 37 countries together to celebrate Olympic values and promote sports.
“It was very exciting because I met other kids like me, who also do sports and were my age and have similar experiences as I do,” Rosales said.
She was also able to celebrate Utah being awarded the 2034 Winter Olympics.
“I was sitting down at like this temple when we were camping. And this kid from Chicago came up to us. And he was like, ‘Did you guys hear about the 2034 bid?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah!,’ we were so happy,” Rosales said.
The event was part of a growing partnership with Utah and Sport dans la Ville, a Paris-based youth sports organization. The Youth Sports Alliance, a Wasatch Back-based organization created after the 2002 Winter Games to promote youth sports, is part of the partnership.
Alliance Executive Director Emily Fisher said she chose Rosales to participate in the festival.
“When the Festival 24 called and said, ‘Do you have an athlete from Park City that isn't necessarily looking to go to the Olympics, but represents what sport can do for youth?’ I immediately thought of Victoria,” she said.
Rosales learned to ski and mountain bike through the Youth Sports Alliance’s Get Out and Play program. She now teaches kids how to ski through the program.
“So just the full circle of learning how to ski through our programs, and now being able to teach and for those students to see, you know, an instructor that looks like her and who speaks Spanish is really heartwarming," Fisher said.
Rosales is also the captain of Park City High School’s Mountain Bike Team.
Fisher said Get Out and Play is an opportunity for kids to try out different sports. During the 2023-24 school year, she said over 2,500 students from 23 different schools participated in 154 programs. About 26% of those students received scholarships from the alliance and 31% identified as minorities.
“Our after-school programs are unique because we not only provide the activity, but we also provide transportation, proper gear, proper clothing, to make sure that any student who wants to try an activity can participate,” Fisher said.
The alliance supports seven local winter sports clubs for kids to join if they want to continue pursuing a sport. There are also scholarships for kids who can’t afford program fees.
Rosales learned to ski through alliance’s program alongside her older sister, Jamie Rosales, who she looks up to.
“I've learned to be more patient with myself,” she said. “I've always wanted to be better, always be with my older sister, because she was always a good skier. And I always wanted to be beside her skiing, but I knew I had to be patient with myself because I was still learning how to ski.”
Although Rosales doesn’t want to continue mountain bike competitions after high school, she plans on keeping sports in her life — especially skiing.
The alliance also sent figure skater Kate Pressgrove and luge athlete Orson Colby, two young aspiring Olympians, to Paris to support Utah’s bid for the 2034 Games.
Alliance programs encourage all Park City youth to make sports a part of their lives, whether they have Olympic goals or not.
