Sirens and slides: Kickball game seeks to connect law enforcement, community

Young County’s first responders will face off, build morale and connect with the community during an inaugural kickball game this weekend in Graham.

The kickball game will take place at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13 at the little league softball field next to Firemen’s Park in Graham, with free public attendance. All Young County first responders have been invited to participate in the event.

Jarod Cook, Young County liaison with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said the idea for the event started when Ashley Givens with the Young County Jail mentioned her and her family used to play kickball growing up.

Givens enlisted a few of the deputies and jailers to join the event and since Cook works together with all first responders, he wanted to expand the scope to encompass everything.

“We all work together on scenes with one another, but you don’t really get to spend time with those folks. You know, everyone’s doing their job,” Cook said. “We wanted to just try to get everyone together and just kind of show the public that we’re humans too, and that we need to kind of vent, relax and get some stress out as well.”

Cook said the moral boosting is already occurring, with first responders already boasting about who is better than the other. He said morale plays a key role when it comes to working together.

“We see bad things and we deal with bad things and here lately the call volume has been high and we’ve had some really rough calls,” Cook said. “Some of the public say an officer has an attitude or one of the EMS or fire is a little grumpy, or whatever. Well there’s a reason for it, and we need to vent as well. I feel like this would be a good way for everyone to just kind of blow some steam, have some fun.”

While no official teams have been set, Cook said he would like to see fire departments, EMS and judges on one team and police, deputies and state troopers on another team. 

“As long as we have enough people to make two teams, that’s what it comes down to,” he said. “We’ve already started our internal bickering. Everybody’s already talking smack to each other and they may end up on the same team.”

The event will have regulated kickballs and jerseys for each team participating. While things are shaping up for a good game, Cook said how everyone plays will be a different story.

“Most of us haven’t kicked a ball since junior high, probably,” he said. “I did talk to (Graham EMS Director) Bobby (Hadderton). He will have an ambulance down there. They’re supposed to be participating, but I feel like it’s more for first responder safety.”

Cook said if there is an dispatch call that prevents one team from having enough players, they will ask members of the public to participate. 

Ultimately, Cook said he hopes the event is fun and helps to build the community of first responders.

“Being in the same field, we all have similar mindsets and know what each other’s going through,” he said. “It feels good for your mental health to know that you’ve got other responders that are there for you. And of course, we’re going to talk a lot of smack to each other.”