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This St. Louis area football coach is meeting with local law enforcement to help create change

“we didn’t agree on everything, but it was a respectful conversation, and it was a real conversation"

BRECKENRIDGE HILLS, Mo. —

Ritenour High School head football coach Kyle Wagner is entering his first season at the helm.

He met his team in person for the first time this week, but teamwork is going far beyond the field. 

During the COVID-19 shutdown, Wagner used the downtime to hold multiple weekly Zoom calls with varsity coaching staff and players to begin looking at a bigger picture taking place off of the field. 

From character building exercises, to holding group conversations on how to create tangible change in the community following the death of George Floyd. Wagner said an emphasis is being placed on encouraging players to develop their own voice.

“You can voice how you feel,” Wagner said. “You can go out, you can protest. This is the way to protest. You can go out and you can vote if you’re 18.” 

Wagner began meeting with officers from both the Overland and St. Ann police departments to take part in a ride-along, and converse about what everyone can be doing to create healthy change in the community.

“That conversation was extremely positive,” Wagner said. “We didn’t agree on everything, but it was a respectful conversation and it was a real conversation. And from that conversation, we were able to come up with some things that they were doing that maybe some other police departments could be doing to invoke some of that change we kind of talked about.”

Wagner said his goal is to provide officers with perspective from the Ritenour community, while also taking the time to better understand police perspectives that he can use to educate the young men on his team.

“They have an explorers program, which allows young men and women to take place in a few weeks of courses that kind of educates them on what it’s like being a police officer,” Wagner said. “I think in this, what we can give our kids, and what we can really give adults the most of, is perspective.”

After meeting with the police officers, Wagner said he learned the importance of keeping an open ear and respectfully conversing with people who have had different personal experiences.

At the end of each practice, the Huskies have a team conversation about core values, and what they can be doing to become better players and better people. 

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