SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The United States Police and Fire Championships are an Olympic style sports competition that began in San Diego 57 years ago.
"The games originated back in 1967, as they were created by San Diego Police Sergeant Duke Nyhus," says Executive Director of Police Athletic Federation Edmund Russell. The games were created promote fitness and competition for wellness of police officers. At the time it was called the Police Olympics"
The general idea was to promote fitness, but to also created camaraderie among the different groups of law enforcement.
"It started initially with 16 sports and evolved up to 38 now, and there have been more in the past," says Russell.
The U.S. Police and Fire Championships are 38 different sports taking place at 26 different venues. While competition is the spirit of the games, mental health is a key component among the athletes.
"Physical fitness and specifically these games, bring tools and skills to people whether they know it or not that help mitigate their stress levels. If you are training and focusing on physical performance there is an aspect that is a stress reliever," says Police Athletics Federation Associate Director Lori Luhnow.
"Being a police officer for 31 years, this helped me." says Edmund. "You see a lot of things out in the field, such as death, shootings, domestic violence, so you know the physical fitness part of these games really help a person get through it."
The athletes represent police, fire fighters, border patrol, and corrections. Luhnow says there is definitely a rivalry between police and fire.
"There is always fun between police and fire, and fire fighters will say that they are police officers heroes. however, we know that police officers are fire fighters heroes."
The games run from June 8-15.
