In a time when it seems all we hear about kids and cops is bad news, there is a program that is bringing them together as a team.
A quick glance, and you might think this was a high school gym class or a social club. But this is a more unlikely pairing.
It's called Dueling Dragons. At-risk kids from Orlando are identified by community service programs and teamed up with Orlando police officers. The program is the brainchild of Andrea Eliscu.
"Police officers and inner-city kids — they're usually not a team," Eliscu said. "And we put them together in a boat and say, 'Let's work together and see what happens.' Nobody wants to see another Ferguson, another Trayvon Martin, another Madison Wisconsin. So, if you can change and create a relationship — if you can change some of that profiling."
Dragon boating is a team sport where 20 rowers must work as one to race a boat through the water. One of the teens came up with "dueling dragons," a name which reflects the challenge on and off the lake.
"In the boat, they stop being cops and kids. They're a team,” Eliscu said.
The team must gel quickly. They start meeting in February and then have their first competition in April. The team's major event takes place in October.
Since launched 2011, the dueling dragons kids not only benefit from the training and competition, but it also opens their world with at least one away trip. The first was to compete in Canada.
"So, can you imagine, gets this group of inner-city kids that have never been on a plane and have never been in a hotel and certainly don't have a passport," Eliscu said.
What made the trip even cooler? The Dueling Dragons won the competition.