IOWA TRADITION
Kreiter has connection to wave
The best new sports tradition sprouted this fall in Iowa City, Iowa. It was there, at the University of Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium, that a new “wave” was born. At the end of the first quarter of Hawkeyes home games this season, fans in the stands and players on the field turned toward the new University of Iowa Stead Family’s Children’s Hospital, which rises nearby above the stadium, and waved at the children watching the game from their perch on the top floor. The children above waved back. It’s become a chance for them to be connected to the action below. The Iowa wave is an experience that has touched Broncos long snapper Casey Kreiter, a former Hawkeyes player who participated in the new tradition when he attended an Iowa game with his wife Oct. 7, during Denver’s bye week. Kreiter, who was a substitute high school teacher in Iowa City before joining the Broncos in 2016, spoke with The Denver Post about that experience, the inspiration for his “My Cause, My Cleats” footwear last weekend and his post-football goals in the field of education.
Q: The wave at Iowa has become a wonderful national story this year. What does it mean to you?
A: It epitomizes what the Iowa football program and the University of Iowa is about. I was first exposed to the Children’s Hospital playing for Coach (Kirk) Ferentz. He kind of always encouraged guys to go over there. He doesn’t tell them to, but he lets people know that the option is there. The support staff is always saying to guys, “Hey, we have a request. If you have time, do you want to go over?” I was exposed to that there and I’ve continued to stay in touch with children’s hospitals all over the place, especially here (in Denver). You see what they’re doing with the wave. Just a little gesture like that goes so far. People have seen how big it’s gotten. I was actually able to be a part of it on the field during our bye week. My wife and I went back and we were a part of it, and it was powerful. Just that small little thing of waving at kids in a hospital, and you can see them waving back, it’s powerful.
Q: Speaking of children’s hospitals, they were the inspiration for your “My Cause, My Cleats” design, right?
A: I represented the Children’s Miracle Network. The Children’s Hospital in Colorado is a Children’s Miracle Network hospital, as is the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Including my love for science and STEM education, we put some QR codes on there. I’m going to get those shoes to the hospitals and they’ll display them however they want. You just scan the code and it takes you to a video of myself giving a personal message to the kids in both hospitals, just letting them know there are people all over the world who care about them. They might not even know them, but they care about them and appreciate what they’re going through. For me, personally, they are my inspiration. I see kids going through that stuff and it just breaks my heart. They are a lot tougher than I am.
Q: Why is STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education so important to you?
A: Being scientifically literate is going to change the culture. We live in a world where, when I was teaching and substitute teaching, you see kids who get their information from Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram. A lot of that information isn’t true facts. A lot of it is opinionated. But a lot of kids see it as true facts. Being scientifically literate allows them to look at information and say, “Where is this source coming from? Is this real information or is this opinion?” And they can kind of take a big-picture look at it and then make their own decision. If they say, “This is something I believe in and I think it’s true,” they can start spreading that. Having the ability to take information and be able to diagnose it as reliable or not, STEM education is that avenue, in my mind.
Q: Do you want to go back to being a teacher? Or would you want to get involved in something like education reform?
A: For now, I just enjoy the teaching. There is something so special about watching a young adult start to grasp concepts you’re teaching, something they’ve never learned before. You can see it in their eyes when you’re teaching it and when they’re getting that hands-on experience with the information. You can see that click in their minds. It’s an incredible thing to see students, who might not even be interested in the subject, start to take a personal investment in it because you’ve related it to them.