Young people will be given the opportunity to take part in Olympic and Paralympic sports as part of a new network of 3,000 after school clubs created across the country.

Culture secretary Ben Bradshaw has confirmed that £6m will be spent by the government to create the network at English secondary schools and colleges as part of the sporting legacy from the 2012 Games. Funding will be used to pay for new equipment and qualified coaches to run the clubs, which will provide a range of sports including boccia, badminton, table tennis, volleyball and wheelchair basketball.

Sports' national governing bodies, Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust will work in partnership with schools and colleges to develop the new clubs, which will be operated under the Change 4 Life banner. Bradshaw said: "We hope this will be just the start and that schools across England build on this investment and deliver a network of clubs covering every Olympic sport, long after London's closing ceremony.

In addition to £3.4m from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Department of Health has earmarked £1.5m for the plans and Sport England will contribute a £1m grant. DCMS funding will be sourced from the £780m made available by the government for its Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People fund for 2008-11.

Five-time Olympic rowing gold medallist Steve Redgrave added: "These Change 4 Life sports clubs can help us do that and ensure a passion for sport burns brightly inside thousands of young people."