Basketball brings students and law enforcement together at Morse High School – NBC 7 San Diego

In the first of its kind, the Morse High School men’s basketball team faced officers from the Southeast Division of the San Diego Police Department in the high school gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

The game is the result of both teams’ efforts to build a better relationship, and although they told NBC 7 they knew things weren’t going to get better overnight, they said they were eager to see where the effort would lead.

“It’s a good opportunity to bring people together in a non-applicator setting so that we can meet the student-athletes here and then they have the chance to meet the law enforcement officers as well,” said the captain of the Southeast Division of the San Diego Police Department. , Manny Del Toro. “We can make friends and see each other in the kind of setting that we don’t normally do. “

With the SDPD Southeast Division just a few blocks from Morse High School, Captain Del Toro said outreach was key.

“Sometimes we are fortunate enough to interact in the course of our duties… but we never interact in a positive environment,” he said. “It gives us the opportunity to show that there is a lot more in common than there are differences that we have. “

Carl Fisher, a Morse High School alumnus and basketball head coach, agreed.

“It’s a good thing for the community, for the children and also for the agents to get to know some of the children and the children to get to know some of the agents,” he said.

Coach Fisher told NBC 7 that the friendly is about more than basketball.

“A lot of these kids have a lot more problems at home and it’s a great place to come in and try to make you forget about some of these things,” he said.

Jonathan Black, a member of the high school basketball team, said the national uprisings following the murder of George Floyd by police have deeply affected his generation, adding that he thinks it is important that the forces of the Order understands what the communities they patrol go through every day.

“I think it’s a start,” he said. “But I think there is still a long way to go.”

Law enforcement and students said the games were a good start to building a positive relationship at a time when they said it was more important than ever for the two sides to communicate with each other.

“These kids have stressors. They are trying to go to college, to make notes, to win sports, ”said captain Del Toro. “And the officers show up for work, we have to deal with the pandemic, we had civil unrest last year, but we are all trying to improve it.”

Despite a student loss on Saturday, both teams said they wanted the games to continue and expand to other high school groups.

“I want the girls to play here and the men and I want to see them on the flag football pitch too,” Black said.

The SDPD said it was working with the high school to plan more matches in other sports between law enforcement and students.

“The most important thing with these kids is winning in life,” Coach Fisher said. “Life is more important to me than a basketball game… I want them to be good parents, good fathers, good uncles. It’s just more than basketball for me.