For the first time in 30 years, the Texas Police Games are returning to San Angelo Sunday, June 12 through Saturday, June 18, 2016.
Sgt. Cade Soslbery, committee member for the event and public Information officer for the San Angelo Police Department, said, "The games are held every year, in June, and there is a bidding process that determines which city hosts the event. We started the bidding process to host it in San Angelo back in 2014."
"The TPGs are open to Active Duty and retired law enforcement, firefighters, and military, who are also allowed to have one guest compete with them," said Solsbery.
As of right now, he approximated over 950 competitors have signed up and the youngest is 14.
This year, the Police Athletic League has also agreed to open up certain events to the general public," Solsbery said. "TPG is considered a 'state level' competition, and in some of the categories, specific participants could possibly advance to the National Police Games. Years ago, it was called the Police Olympics, as some of the events like Track and Field, Karate, and Wrestling, which are considered Olympic-style competitions, qualified for advancement. For this week's event, Power Lifting, Karate, Submission Wrestling, Bowling, Billiards, Basketball, Softball, Golf and several shooting competitions are on the schedule, along with domino and poker tournaments. We have a lot of citizens especially interested in the running events, so we have also added 5k and 10k events. The San Angelo Road Lizards will be joining in as well."
So far, Solsbery said the SWAT competition and Flag Football have been canceled due to low registration numbers, but he anticipated the biggest event will be the Softball Competition towards the end of the week. As for the SAPD's fearless leader, Chief Vasquez, participating in any of the games, Solsbery said, "He had mentioned maybe with the billiards," but was unsure of any other events.
The games that are repetitive, such as softball, will be bracketed, and as far as awards, the top three finishers will receive medals. As per the rules with team sports, they have certified and or registered officiates of which most are volunteers.
Solsbery said, "It takes a lot of volunteers to get this pulled off, and we will gladly accept more at any time. There is a link on our Facebook page for interested parties wanting to help out."
As the host agency, SAPD chose a special event to be added to this year’s games.
"We will be hosting a Motorcycle Rodeo in honor of Sgt. Korby Kennedy who died in the line of duty on June 25, 2015. The Motorcycle Rodeo will consist of Police Motorcycle Officers from around the state competing in various skill challenges, as well as a fun run. It will take place in the parking lot behind the Spur Arena Monday, June 13, through Wednesday, June 15."
Any citizen who wishes to compete in a variety of open events must register at least one day prior to the event. The cost of entering is $60 for the first event and $10 for every extra event. Each citizen who competes will get a competitor t-shirt and can attend the Texas Police Games Social on Tuesday, June 14, at 6:00 p.m. at the Bill Aylor Sr. Memorial RiverStage.
All events are open to the public to come and watch, and Solsbery encourages citizens to attend and support the competitors.
For the event schedule and more information on the 2016 Texas Police Games, please visit SAPD's Facebook page or http://www.texaspolicegames.org.
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