By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
It wasn’t pretty.
As a matter of fact, it was downright ugly.
The Point/Arc – the non-profit organization based in Covington – brought their A game to the Griffin Elite Sports and Wellness Complex (700 Dolwick Drive) this week, and crushed the Big Blue, 51-8 in kickball.
The Big Blue, aka Covington’s finest – police – were outmanned, outplayed, and embarrassed by The Point/Arc’s clients.
“I last played kickball when I was 10 years-old,” Covington Sgt. Rachel White said, “and that was 23 years ago.”
And it looked like it.
To be fair, the squad from The Point/Arc – under the leadership of Activities Director Regina Watts, has an entire kickball season to practice – and it showed.
The offensive display shown by The Point/Arc would even make the Cincinnati Reds proud.
“I knew we’d make them cry, even before the game started,” said a happy Leslie Vickers, VP/Enterprises for The Point/Arc.
It was the relationship between White and Vickers that made this game a reality.
“We used The Point/Arc’s apparel shop to print T-shirts for our FOP golf outing,” said White, who moved to Northern Kentucky from Morehead, Ky., seven years ago. “Leslie (Vickers) reached out to us, and a kickball challenge sounded exciting,” White said.
Certainly, after the recent results, a rematch is in the offering – in fact, White jokingly said she may ask the Covington Fire Department for help next time.
Yet, the mission was accomplished – despite the outcome.
“We’re always trying to build relationships with the Covington Police and FOP as well as the community,” White said. “We’re here to do more than police work.”
As for The Point/Arc, it was an evening where friends as well as parents could see the actual mission at work. To give everyone – and anyone – regardless of their intellectual and developmental (I/DD) disability – the ability to achieve their highest potential educationally, socially, residentially, and vocationally.
And on this night – at the expense of the Covington Police Department — athletically.