Coconut Grove Police Junior Olympics held today

I had a ball this morning at Esther Armbrister Park for the Inaugural Coconut Grove Police Junior Olympics. Fifth graders from three Grove schools participated. They were from Frances S. Tucker Elementary, Coconut Grove Elementary and George Washington Carver Elementary.


The kids all had a ball, too. It was very reminiscent of when I was in school, many of the adults present told me the same thing. Our local police held the event and they did a first class job and they were all so proud to be there. So many of them were present including Chief of Police Miguel Exposito and our local Commander Richard Gentry, who sponsored the whole thing, along with our own Grove beat cops.

Officer Delrish Moss emceed the event. It started with a color guard, who marched out and led the Pledge of Allegiance and Rev. Clayton L. Hodges who came in all the way from Naples, FL to bless the proceedings with a little prayer.

Then the games began, there was a little bit of everything from a push-up contest to a sit-up contest. The police helped out by keeping count and making sure everyone followed the rules.


The relay race and sack race were a lot of fun, so was the tug-of-war.


The girls raced and then the boys raced. Each school participated in each event. And in the end, each school won something -- trophies and medals. All the students did an excellent job.


The FIU Cheerleaders added a lot of excitement, too.


A+ Tutoring, the free county tutoring service, had a table set up, from left are Luisana Cavallo, Zoraida Villanueva and Yanellyzi Tellez. Our friend Marcelo from Focaccia, was there grilling up lots of juicy burgers, Focaccia was one of the sponsors along with Dr. Abbassi in Village West, who donated the awards and the Central Beer Garden at CocoWalk donated the t-shirts.

It was a fun event and we look forward to the next one.