SALISBURY, Md – For College and NFL football, the season won’t be starting for another 5 months. But Saturday at Charlie Berry Field in Salisbury, the community came together for a football season of their own.
For Sgt. Thomas Hitty and the Salisbury Police Department, it took 5 months of planning, partnerships with Rise Flag Football, the Maryland Governor’s Office, the Salisbury Boys and Girls club, and support from a number of other organizations–all so that kids in the area can have a chance to play flag football. “We were working around the clock to get this going, going to local elementary schools, going to local middle schools, speaking with teachers and all the kids, trying to offer them this opportunity,” Sgt. Hitty said, continuing, “It’s so important to actually be able to get out into the community and work with the youth. And not only are you working with the youth, but when you work with youth, you get to work with the parents and it builds bridges.”
Hosting this flag football league for the next six weeks gives the Salisbury Police Department the chance to really connect with their constituents, but its also an opportunity for the kids involved to learn the lessons that football has to offer, something that Sherman Wood, head coach of the SU football team emphasized, saying, “The goal is to try to just make sure kids understand the points of doing the right things, listening up, understanding the importance of life skills…It’s about positive community engagement and being aware of what’s going on as well.”
Salisbury University’s football team, cheerleaders, and poms squad all showed up to support the event. Organizers went all-out to make the opening ceremonies as memorable as possible for the players–a giant tunnel for them to run out of, a DJ, free food and sno cones–but even with the big day, for SPD and Sgt. Hitty, this was all about the future of the community: “We have 128 kids actively involved for our first season. We hope to grow that as the seasons continue on.”
Salisbury Chief of Police David Meinschein said SPD is always looking for new partners and new ways to connect with the community: “I like to always say that we’re willing to partner with anybody that that’s willing to partner with us to kind of collectively join our resources together.” He said his department is exploring the possibility of establishing a baseball league for the summer.
