Tomorrow the St. Louis Rams will launch a new community outreach program designed to promote diversity and inclusion among youth in the St. Louis area. Rams Blitz: Youth Working Together to Break Through Boundaries will bring together two high school football teams from different backgrounds with the goal of fostering a greater understanding and respect for each other.
The inaugural program, which is sponsored by team partner Ameren Missouri, will unite 130 football players from Parkway North High School and Seckman Senior High School for a variety of activities throughout the 2012-2013 school year.
“This is a groundbreaking sportsmanship program that we hope other schools will take part in,” said Kris Kellams, athletic director, Parkway North High School. “We are honored to be one of the first teams to take advantage of the Rams Blitz program.”
Rams Blitz will encourage players, coaches and parents to look beyond their day to day comfort zone by building a common bond through the sport of football to promote understanding and acceptance of differences.
We feel like we are in a unique position to use the game of football to first establish some commonalities among the teams and then we can build from there and tackle the differences,” said Molly Higgins, vice president of corporate communications/civic affairs, St. Louis Rams. “The successful outcome of the program will be establishing a greater respect for each other in the short term, while providing them with the skills and mindset to build relationships beyond high school.”
The initial meeting will take place tomorrow from 2:30-5:30 p.m. at ContinuityX Training Center, the practice facility of the Rams, where the student-athletes will take part in a variety of activities focused around character development, teamwork, collaboration and communication. Rams alumni players Pisa Tinoisamoa and Arlen Harris will serve as the guest speakers and participate in the high school player engagement portion of the day.
The program will continue with events throughout the school year including a Parkway North High School vs. Seckman High football game on October 12, a Rams home game, a diversity training day at ContinuityX Training Center and a cultural and social outing in 2013.
The Rams have worked with long-time team partners, Diversity Awareness Partnership and CHARACTERplus, to develop the program.
“We’re grateful to our partners Diversity Awareness Partnership and CHARACTERplus for working with us on this important initiative,” said Higgins. “When we presented the idea to them, they embraced the vision and saw the opportunity to make a difference in this area. Their expertise will make this a truly substantive and meaningful experience for the student-athletes. We’re excited to see the immediate impact the project will have on these kids, and ideally they will then become ambassadors of diversity and inclusion for the rest of their lives.”