To educate means above all to offer opportunities: chances to choose, grow, and take part.

This is the principle that has inspired Detective Sergeant Vincent Manno for over twenty years, and that he has skillfully carried forward, making sport a bridge between institutions and the community.

On Friday, September 12, St Georges Road Primary School in Shepparton was transformed into a vibrant mosaic of uniforms, footballs, and laughter.

Around 350 children – from Prep to Year 6 – had the chance to meet with police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and coaches, discovering that behind a strict uniform are people ready to listen.

This is the beating heart of Sports COPPS – Choices, Opportunities, Partnerships, Participation equals Success – the program born from Manno’s intuition, which has so far involved over 15,000 young people across Victoria.

It has given them not only days of sport, but also the chance to choose paths different from those marked by risk and isolation.

At the recent event at St Georges Road Primary, both in classrooms and on the playing fields, the Shepparton Proactive Policing Unit, the Victoria Police Soccer Club, basketball players, Football Australia, the Bully Zero Australia Foundation, Shepparton South Soccer Club, Notre Dame Sports Academy, Fire Rescue Victoria, the Victoria Police Historical Society, the Fire Services Museum of Victoria, and the Ambulance Service Museum all came together.

Each offered their time to build trust between officers and the community and to reduce long-standing social tensions.

“We try to encourage young people to make the right choices,” Manno explained, “because opportunities come from those decisions. Sport and any recreational activity become a way to build networks, self-esteem, and community connections. Participation is crucial because, in any field, commitment brings support and opens new paths.”

Detective Sergeant Vincent Manno. (Photo: The Media Collective)

Throughout the day, service vehicles – a mobile police unit, a fire truck, and a vintage ambulance among them – filled the schoolyard, while recognition certificates, along with educational and sporting giveaways, left an indelible memory for the hundreds of children who took part.

Sports COPPS is not just a recreational project but a true educational pathway designed to prevent antisocial behaviour.

“Deviant behaviour leads to bullying, and bullying turns into crime,” Manno added.

“We want to break this cycle, dismantle prejudices against police, and leave young people with a positive memory: perhaps they will think fondly of the day spent with basketball or soccer, and when they face a problem, they’ll know they can turn not only to teachers and family, but also to their local police.”

At the foundation of the project is the genuine desire to give back a sense of community, while strengthening the bond between young people and their local area.

A student on a police vehicle. (Photo: The Media Collective)

“We work together with schools, associations, and emergency services to offer an alternative to risky behaviours. It’s a form of early prevention that comes through the joy of play,” the detective sergeant continued.

“Inclusion of culturally and linguistically diverse communities is another key point. Participation is vital: if young people are given an opportunity, they will make the most of it. Today’s youth are intelligent and ready – it’s up to us to provide them with healthy opportunities.”

With a father from Tuscany and a mother from Calabria – he from the centre of Lucca and she from Stefanaconi, in the province of Vibo Valentia – Vincent Manno understands how his outlook on society, and then on his profession, is deeply rooted in his family history, which taught him “indispensable values” and gave him “strength and awareness.”

Some students with a health worker. (Photo: The Media Collective)

“You must never forget where you come from. Respect for your own culture and for that of others grows from your roots. The sacrifices of our parents become our strength, the strength that allows us to help not only our community but also others,” he said.

And in a historical moment where fear is rising, bullying continues to spread, and Victoria is witnessing a frightening surge in youth crime – with children and teenagers using weapons to carry out extreme violence, sometimes with devastating consequences – the Sports COPPS program aims to offer a different horizon.

“I often tell young people that the answers aren’t on social media or in artificial intelligence, but in the people around them every day: parents, teachers, workers. The community has lost its bearings a little, but I’m sure initiatives like this can bring light back,” Manno added.

“It’s not sport itself that is the goal, but the ability to give young people something to do, a passion that can become a job, a positive path in life.”