Every two years, heroes are heralded on a global stage at the World Police and Fire Games, where thousands of athletes come together in competition and community.
The games are an Olympic-style multi-sport event featuring dozens of sports that host active and retired first responders at sites across the world.
This year, the competition is stateside in Birmingham, Alabama.
Local Davis firefighter Bryan ten Bosch is making his third trip out to the games this week.
"It's like a full Olympics, it's changed locations. The first time I ever went was Rotterdam in The Netherlands," said Bosch, who has also competed in Winnipeg, Canada.
Bosch competes in the decathlon, made up of ten track and field events, and won his first two appearances at the game in his age group.
"It's really cool because everybody kind of pulls on each other to get to the end of those ten events," said Bosch. "We're all connected by the same kind of job profession, first responders but we all have different kind of motivations."
Traveling to the competition every two years provides a sense of community and a chance to connect.
"Supporting each other. At the end we can go to the athlete village, hang out, talk about our experiences on the job, what the world's like," said Bosch. "We're all connected by the same kind of job profession, first responders but we all have different kind of motivations."
Bosch's mission at the games is to spotlight mental health for first responders, highlighting his own journey of healing from darker days on the job.
"I had a window where I ended up burning out, I didn't like the job, I didn't like the work I was doing. I wasn't taking care of myself physically, mentally," said Bosch. In 2019, Bosch was at the scene the moment that fallen Davis police officer Natalie Corona was shot and killed in the line of duty. "Everybody that was there on scene that day kind of had to deal with it and cope with it in their own ways," said Bosch. The traumatic incident for Bosch sparked a mental health spiral that was only healed only when he rediscovered his love for track and field and prioritized his physical and mental health."It's a community, it takes a village to take care of each other," said Bosch. "There's a lot of flavors of trauma out there and sometimes one solution doesn't fix all of them. There's all these different treatments out there now, all these resources for first responders to get the help they need. I utilized it then and utilize it now." That's what he wants to spotlight for his fellow first responders, especially as he works to cross the finish line again at the world games. "The common denominator I've found in people that have started taking care of themselves is they've started taking care of themselves physically. It's amazing what taking care of the physical does for the mental," said Bosch. Bosch each year also raises money for a Yolo County charity. For the most recent games, his charity of choice was Officer Natalie Corona's memorial scholarship. This year, Bosch is supporting local animal rescue Hearts for Paws.
Bosch has organized an online fundraiser to support his trip and charities.
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