Police, kids get a kick out of event
Inner-city youth competing in a kickball tournament Wednesday learned police officers can be fun.
The tournament was a part of the Parks and Recreation Department’s Play in the Park summer program for kids 6 and older. Eight teams from Oklahoma City community centers competed for the better part of the day at the Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame Stadium.
Members of the Police Athletic League called games and acted as referees.
The annual kickball tournament has been sponsored by PAL for several years as a way to con- nect with inner-city kids, Sgt. Dawn Webb-Murray said.
“We’re here to teach them ethics, sportsmanship and camaraderie,” she said. “We’re not the bad guys. We just have to do a job.”
As kids sat on the bleachers waiting to play, police officers chatted with them and gave them high-fives. On the field, the officers joked with the kids.
Southern Oaks coach Bobbie Rosario said she was there to be a role model, just like the officers.
Rosario didn’t expect to be coaching a kickball team when she started working at the Southern Oaks recreation center two weeks ago. She assumed all of her daily activities would be done at the center or on the playground.
Before heading to the tournament, she had a pep talk with her team that focused on having fun.
“I told them whether we win or lose, we’re going to go out there and have fun,” Rosario said. “At the end of the day, we’re winners, no matter what.”
Every time a new Southern Oaks player got up to kick, Rosario clapped and cheered like it was her own child. If the player got to a base, scored a home run or was put out, she would cheer all the same.
Her team followed suit, always smiling and cheering. That positive attitude — coupled with former soccer player Mauricio Angeles, 12, as team captain — meant Southern Oaks players couldn’t help but have fun.
Mauricio encouraged his teammates to keep going through their third game with the sun beating down on their shoulders.
As the ball rolled toward the plate during Mauricio’s turn to kick, he sidled toward it and, with one swift motion, sent it deep into the outfield. Mauricio rounded the bases, running right into a crowd of cheering teammates who offered him hugs and chest bumps.
Mauricio credited the coach.
“She makes us be confident with ourselves and keep on going, even if we’re losing,” he said.
Southern Oaks came in sixth in the tournament. But to Rosario, they won.
The police made a good impression on the kids, she said.
“This is not just kickball.”