Spring SCORES with the Tigers, Part II: Planning the project

This spring, we are following Amidon-Bowen's season highlighting their service-learning project, but also attending games and soccer practices. The Tigers are located in Southwest D.C. in Ward 6. You can follow along on all DC SCORES social media, and see game day updates by searching the hashtag #DCSGameDay

Written by Dahlia Chaudhury
Communications Intern

Amidon-Bowen is charging straight into a tough service-learning project this season. Entitled Fight 4 Fitness, the project supports healthy living.

The Tigers actively completed the 'preparation and decision making' workshops that are imperative to a successful service learning project. During their workshops they learned the ground rules to and reasons for service-learning, as well as identified what issue they wanted to tackle for a project.

Choosing their school community as a home base, Amidon poet-athletes decided that they wanted to try and live healthier lifestyles, and help others achieve this goal as well. 

Daniel, a 4th grader, said "We're going to be talking to our classmates, peers, and teachers." 

When I visited Amidon, they were just beginning the 'research and planning' phase of service-learning. The students were brainstorming ideas for how they could get the word out about the project. Some ideas were posters, intercom announcements, and assemblies. As for their own lifestyles, the students created four goals that they all wanted to achieve during the season. 

Makayla told me all about them. "Our first goal is to drink more water, our second goal is to eat more healthy foods, our third goal is to work out more...and our fourth goal is to eat foods that will kind of help our brains and make us smarter," she said. The Tigers have not yet created a plan to keep themselves accountable for this mission. 

The Tigers are doing an awesome job so far, and I can't wait to see what direction they head in next week!

Spring SCORES with the Tigers, Part I: An introduction to Amidon-Bowen

This spring, we are following Amidon-Bowen's season highlighting their service-learning project, but also attending games and soccer practices. The Tigers are located in Southwest D.C. in Ward 6. You can follow along on all DC SCORES social media, and see game day updates by searching the hashtag #DCSGameDay



Written by Dahlia Chaudhury
Communications Intern

Though they are a brand-new program, Amidon-Bowen Elementary School has thrived using the DC SCORES model their first year combining soccer, poetry, and service-learning.

This season is Amidon's second spring implementing the program. The Tigers became a DC SCORES school in October 2015 when D.C. United's United Soccer Club program merged with DC SCORES. The partnership melded DC SCORES’ robust curriculum and proven success with D.C. United’s name recognition and soccer resources. Because of Amidon-Bowen's close proximity to D.C. United's home in Southwest (especially to United's new stadium coming in 2018), the school and its soccer team are especially important to the club and are often chosen for fun opportunities, such as tickets to games and training from players.



There are three coaches at Amidon: Carlos Granados, soccer; Kenisha Pecot, writing; and LeeVon Floyd, soccer and writing. Amdion has soccer followed by poetry/service-learning programming on the same days, and all three coaches are very involved in both aspects and build off each other's lessons. From just my first day at the school, it was obvious that the coaches are admired by the students, and it was noticeable that all three commanded a great amount of respect, no small accomplishment after a long school day. The Amidon poet-athletes were all happy to be at practice, and there were no complaints when the session transitioned from soccer to service learning.

"Poetry allows me to interact with students that I do not have the opportunity to see and also bond and build relationships," said coach Pecot.

Coach Carlos commented to me that in just the past two years, "Some of the kids have improved academically, so when it comes to reading out loud or writing, they have (really) improved. They don't have stage fright anymore, and it just comes more naturally for them."

Amidon-Bowen has adapted extremely well to the full DC SCORES curriculum, and has quickly become a part of the school and greater community. Now, the Tigers are ready to make a difference in their school community.

Stay tuned as we document their service-learning project this spring.

Coaches gear up for spring season with action-packed, fun Coach Kickoff

Written by Dahlia Chaudhury
Communications Intern

A day full of speakers, service learning, and soccer: Coach Kickoff was a success!

The day began with the almost 90 attendees, volunteers and teachers from varying schools, gathering at MacFarland Middle School. They heard from a guest speaker, Suzanne Greenfield, who is the first director of the Citywide Youth Bullying Prevention Program with the Office of Human Rights. She talked to the coaches about how they can prevent bullying and promote inclusion this season. 

Next, the coaches split into breakout sessions. They could choose between: "Behind the Scenes at DC SCORES" led by Executive Director Bethany Rubin Henderson; "Creating Team Culture" led by Chief of Staff Katrina Owens; "Service-Learning for Soccer Coaches" led by Program Coordinator Hannah Ehlers; "Soccer for Service-Learning Coaches" led by Athletic Director Greg James; and "Using Data to Prove and Improve" led by Director of Monitoring and Evaluation Libby Watkins.

I was able to sit in on the session devoted to data. Libby gave the coaches a rundown into how DC SCORES uses numbers and what is considered data. After she gave her talk, coaches were able to give insights into how they could use the data compiled by staff, such as attendance and physical health records, to improve in their coaching duties. All of the other sessions went just as successfully; after breakouts the coaches headed to lunch!

Pizza was served for lunch, and during the hour coaches worked with the other coaches from their schools to plan for the upcoming season.

Once lunch was over, everyone was split into their specialties: soccer or writing. The soccer coaches began their lesson inside where they learned the basic aspects of practice and games. Then they moved outside for some on-the-field experience. Coaches practiced dribbling, passing, and accuracy. Then, just as the rain slowly started, it was time to scrimmage! Every drill taught to the coaches is one they'll use with kids this spring.

Inside, the service-learning coaches had fun learning activities they can use in their classrooms and in their respective school communities. One activity involved listing the positive and negative aspects of different parts of a school building. Their session was informative as well, and they all came away knowing the essential, four-stage process of DC SCORES service-learning.

The afternoon passed quickly and the day finished with coaches getting new DC SCORES T-shirts to wear around their SCORES communities. The brand continues to grow. What better way to end an awesome Coach Kickoff?!

Spring 2016 season begins for DC SCORES!

The spring DC SCORES season begins this afternoon when the school bell lets out. Across Washington, DC, kids at elementary and middle schools and rec centers will reunite with friends and coaches. Customized DC SCORES school jerseys will be handed out.

• The first soccer balls will be rolled out.

• Kids will roll up their sleeves and begin to examine their communities and create change.

• Let 12 weeks of soccer and service-learning -- culminating with the Jamboree! June 4 -- begin!

You can get involved this spring by volunteering or donating to directly support programming. See below for more information.

Where is DC SCORES? 

See the map below and click here for a Google Map. The short answer: All across Washington, DC, in 7 of the city's 8 wards.

How service-learning works 

Here's a step-by-step process of how DC SCORES teams go about creating and implementing service-learning projects in their communities

• Step 1: Walk around your school and neighborhood with a clipboard and pencil and write down things you don’t like (trash on the ground, lack of trees and gardens, too many struggling homeless people).

• Step 2: Research the topic(s) that you identify as the biggest need. Examples could include looking up statistics about homelessness in DC or depression among middle school youth, among many others.

• Step 3: Implement a service-learning project. Take action! Execute a comprehensive plan to make your school and/or greater community better.

• Step 4: Spend the last few days reflecting on the project. What did you learn? What else can be done going forward to make a difference?

This all sounds like a lot for a group of adults, but they’re actually often the beneficiaries of the work by 8- 9- and 10-year olds in DC SCORES. Yes, during this spring’s 12-week season, teams at 45 elementary and middle school sites across DC will feel empowered through service-learning and will create change in their communities.

EVENTS

In addition to our biggest, celebratory event, the Jamboree!, the spring season features six weeks of elementary and middle school game days and our annual alumni soccer tournament. Also, the America SCORES National Poetry SLAM! is the premier national showcase of SCORES, which is in 14 cities nationwide!

GAME DAYS

It's no secret -- Game Day is the most fun day for our poet-athletes, kids' families, and our staff! On Thursdays and Fridays throughout the spring, we bus teams throughout DC to visit new neighborhoods, make new friends, and strengthen their communities. Volunteers referee, a staff member supervises each site, and once the whistle is blown, the girls play first followed by the boys.

See this blog and the videos below for more on the game day experience, and find out where the next games are by visiting the soccer schedule page of our website. 

GET SOCIAL!

At an event? Taking photos or videos? Connect with us and use #SpringSCORES16!