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Teens from the Cabbagetown Youth Centre (CYC) may have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take part in Olympic glory in 2010. | The centre is one of several participating agencies in a program being run by ParticipACTION and the Coca-Cola company. The SOGO Active program gives youth aged 13 to 19 a chance to track their own fitness, with those dedicated to getting and staying fit eligible for a chance to carry the Olympic torch for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. | The CYC was the first host organization for the SOGO Active program. Organizers were looking for an inner-city agency that offers a variety of sporting and fitness activities to at-risk kids. | "I think it's a chance of a lifetime for our kids," said CYC executive director Spiros Papathanasakis. "It's beautiful being able to share in the Olympic spirit with kids in our neighbourhood." | SOGO Active challenges kids to improve or maintain their fitness levels at their own pace, allowing them to decide what qualifies as fitness-enhancing activities. That ensures that kids who are typically less active than others will be encouraged to join without feeling that they are at a disadvantage. | "There will be lots of kids who will want to go," Papathanasakis said. "But things like attendance and behaviour are the kinds of things we want to look at." | Papathanasakis added the chance to carry the Olympic torch seemed like an almost unthinkable dream for many youth in the Cabbagetown and Regent Park community. | "A lot of our kids can't participate in programs where their families would have to pay a big fee because the families might not have a lot of money," he said. "These are kids that don't get to do a lot of special, special things like this. You won't see many kids with skates around here." | Now, those same kids have a chance to be the envy of youth across the country. | "If I was a kid and I got to hold the torch, it would be unbelievable," Papathanasakis said. | ParticipACTION President and CEO Kelly Murumets said agencies across Canada have joined the CYC as SOGO Active hosts, adding that youth everywhere are clamouring for the chance to join the Olympic movement. | "The kids are jazzed for it," she said. "They're all saying 'you mean if I get more active, I can have a chance to carry the Olympic torch?'" | The program is an important step in ingraining fitness habits among youth, who all too often lead sedentary lifestyles. Only nine per cent of children across Canada meet minimum daily requirements of physical activity. | "Kids, on average, spend six hours a day of leisure time on screen," she said, noting that computers, television, video games and text messaging take up as many hours in a typical youth's week as work does for typical adults. "As they get older, their physical activity level declines, so kids from 13 to 19 are especially at risk." | To join the SOGO Active program, youth can visit www.sogoactive.com