Two deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Parks Bureau began working with local children at Lennox Park (10828 S. Condon Avenue, Lennox) teaching them football skills. It all started late last year when the deputies, Ismael Rodriguez and Rigoberto Munoz, patrolled Lennox Park and spoke to some of the kids in the park about football. There seemed to be an interest and in January of this year, they put out a flier announcing they would be holding football practice every Thursday night at the park. The group made up of children from ages 7-9 years old began practicing and with the help of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation staff at Lennox Park, the group improved in their football skills. The staff thought it would be good to actually have a game, but not being in a league and it not being football season, this posed a problem. Deputy Francine Rizzio was able to set up a Flag Football game with Century Sheriff Station’s Youth Athletic League. The Lennox Business Alliance even donated shirts to the Lennox team.
When the Century team arrived, they knew there had been a miscommunication as the children were much larger. They were all 12-13 years of age! The game went on with the Parks and Recreation Staff serving as referee’s keeping a close eye on the competition. There was no official score kept, but the hard work and dedication to the Lennox kids by the deputies in those practices paid off. They hung in and after falling behind initially; they went score for score with the big kids and although they lost, they left the field feeling pretty good about themselves. The pizzas supplied by the deputies after the game didn’t hurt either. A good time was had by all.
Consequently, when the game was over, the deputies put their uniforms on and went back to work providing security to the South Los Angeles parks until 6:00 a.m. the following morning.
