Heroes will step onto the field, onto the court and onto the range for the 2025 Birmingham World Police & Fire Games.

Not sports heroes like Jalen Hurts or LeBron James. These heroes don’t make their living by throwing a game-winning touchdown or nailing a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

No, these are real heroes, the kind who run into a burning building to rescue people. They are the heroes who respond to a call if an active shooter is at a neighborhood school.

“Even though their role is as a first responder, in this particular moment, they’re human beings serving as athletes,” said Kathy Parker Boswell, senior vice president for event experience for the 2025 World Police & Fire Games. “That’s the beautiful part about this. These games allow that individual to step out of their (first responder) role, represent what they do every day, but to be an athlete.”

BHM 2025 WPFG will host nearly 8,000 first responders from nearly 80 countries in 1,600 medal events.

“We’ve got 72 countries registered and represented that are bringing athletes to Birmingham for the next 10 days,” games CEO DJ Mackovets said. “Any sport. Any time. Anywhere.”

Competitors are current and retired public agency personnel from across the globe. The opening ceremony is 6 p.m. Friday in Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. The closing ceremony is at 4:30 p.m. on July 6 at the Athletes’ Village at City Walk.

The Games of Heroes, as they’re sometimes called, features more than 60 sports across more than 30 venues around Birmingham and central Alabama.

“We’re spread out all over the county (with) heavy, heavy emphasis in Boutwell (Auditorium), the BJCC and CrossPlex. There’s a lot of activities there,” Mackovets said.

Plus, attending the competitions is free.

Don’t confuse this with The World Games, the 2022 Olympic-styled event that featured elite athletes representing their countries while being provided room and board in villages on the campuses of UAB and Birmingham-Southern College.

“These athletes … have to pay to register for the games,” Mackovets said. “They pay to fly into Birmingham from wherever they’re coming from, domestically or internationally. They make a choice to stay in a hotel or a short-term rental. We’ve had inquiries about RV parks and things like that. Then they feed themselves, so they’re out in the restaurants and the pubs and they’re in the retail stores. I think you’ll see money being spent by the competitors and you’ll see them much more in the community.”

Mackovets said the athletes who came in 2022 were “basically sequestered between BSC and UAB in their dormitories and fed on those campuses, then transported to their venues and then back. It was much more of a true Olympic model.

“This is much more of … almost like a citywide convention model where attendees are spread out,” the CEO said. “They’re moving around and doing their own thing when they’re not in meetings, in this case, in competitions.”

Those competitions will span much of central Alabama.

“We’re all the way in Anniston,” Mackovets said. “We’re on the track at Talladega with the cycling event. We’re at the wonderful marksmanship park in Talladega with a lot of our shooting sports. We’re down at Oak Mountain.

“We’re playing hockey in Pelham,” he continued. “We’re throughout Jefferson County. We’ve got a lot of activity at the Hoover Met complex. By the nature of the number of sports we have, and being able to find the level of venue that we wanted to host the sport, it dictated a pretty widespread … geographically.”

Parker Boswell said organizers continue to solicit volunteers to provide support for the first responder/athletes who will be in the area. She said 1,500 volunteers will provide a good experience for event participants; 2,500 will make that experience great, she said. Find information on volunteering.

Alabamians can cheer for many of their own this time after only one Alabama first responder took part in the World Police & Fire Games two years ago in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

“We’ve been very aggressive with our athlete recruiting,” Mackovets said. “The key is this event is open to our own first responders. It’s not an elite event. The county sheriffs, the PD, fire and rescue, a lot of local agencies are participating. From one two years ago, we’re up to 610 Alabama first responders participating in the games over the next two weeks.”

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Visit the BHM 2025 WPFG website for more information about the games, events surrounding it and details about venues and parking.

City Walk will be turned into Athletes’ Village, a hub with nightly entertainment, merchandising, activities and theme nights.

Full schedule of competitions.