Bonding With the Bears, Part III: Fall Frenzy!

Every week this fall we will be visiting the Barnard Bears during poetry sessions and soccer games to document the progress of the Bears. Follow along to see how students develop their writing and soccer skills, and how the team comes together. We will bring you individual poet-athletes' stories in addition to stories about the team as a whole. Follow along our journey with the Bears on Twitter @DCSCORESInterns & Instagram @DC_SCORES. 

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Written by Elaine Lu
Communications Intern

The excitement leading up to the Fall Frenzy was through the roof. Each student could not stop talking about what was going on. For the few programming sessions right before Fall Frenzy, kids worked harder than ever. At practice, they gave 110 percent to learning new skills. During poetry sessions, they were focused and on track. 

"My sister goes to Trinity University! She's going to volunteer and practice soccer with us!," said Alejandra F., looking forward to spending the Saturday event with her sister and showing her all that she's learned in DC SCORES. 

The day of Fall Frenzy, I had never seen the kids so happy. While I was working the event, kids would run up and hug me, screaming, "Coach Elaine! You're here! Are you going to watch us play?" They were so excited to show off all of their hard work. During their three games, team members cheered each other on at the top of their lungs.

At the booths, they got to express their own creativity. Each child came back with a "Messi" or "Ronaldo" painted across his or her forehead, channeling their favorite soccer star.

The kids especially enjoyed the D.C. United booths. The inflatable shooting goal drew the attention of every single player there. When actual DCU players showed up, the kids lost it. 

"When are we gonna get to meet them?! Can we take pictures? I want a selfie to put on Snapchat!!" were among phrases that I heard during the early afternoon mayhem. After meeting the professional players, Chris Korb and Charlie Horton, almost every single kid came back with at least one signed shoe, if not two. 

In the little bit of free time they had in between booths, kids loved rolling down the huge hills at Trinity University. Running through the crunchy leaves all over the grass to the top was one of the most entertaining things to do. 

As games and activities came to an end and the energy persistent for seven consecutive hours finally waned, the Barnard Bears walked toward their bus fully content. "That was awesome!," I heard so many kids shouting as they got on board. 

Fall Frenzy 2016 was definitely one for the books!

Now the focus turns to the Poetry Slam!. Stay tuned for more next week!

DC SCORES Fall Frenzy delivers nonstop activity for over 1,000 kids

The day began in complete darkness, just an empty soccer field in NE Washington, DC. It ended with the same empty bed of green grass under a blue sky pocked with the puffiest of clouds.

In between 6:30am and 2:30pm, something happened. Something really BIG.

The 19th Annual DC SCORES Fall Frenzy took over the athletic fields at Trinity Washington University Saturday, bringing nonstop soccer games and a host of other sports and arts activities to more than 1,000 elementary school program participants.

The day began with two and a half hours of setup, was followed by a call-and-response with all the teams at 9:20am, and then a 1-2-3 DC SCORES!!! And action.

From there, every DC SCORES team -- all kids and coaches proudly wearing their jerseys, the colors ranging from neon pink, to dark blue, from neon green, to yellow, you get the point; the teams covered the spectrum -- rotated between activities.

Six soccer games at a time were played on the main Trinity field. Up the hill, two more games were conducted at a time. And down the hill, on the lower level, teams switched between an event-record 11 stations all run by DC SCORES program partners and volunteers.

Relay races. Dodgeball. A soccer skills station. Poetry writing. Coloring and drawing. The shooting accuracy station. Facepainting. Picture-taking with D.C. United mascot Talon. And even autographs with DCU players Charlie Horton and Chris Korb.

The event wouldn't have been at all possible without the incredible support of 160-plus volunteers, many representing the dozens of SCORES partner groups who came out to help. From Safeway's huge truck arriving in the morning to deliver loads of water bottles, to AmeriHealth DC's table with lots of healthy goodies for the kids, to the George Washington Swim & Dive team -- the entire team -- picking up trash all over the grounds and breaking down goals to aid a quick exit after the kids were gone, our partners basically ran Fall Frenzy.

Here's a full list of Fall Frenzy partners. Thank you again!
CBRS American University
City Kids
Clark Construction
D.C. United
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Discovery Education
DJ RBI
Edmund Burke School
Kappa Alpha Theta
The Field School
GWU Phi Delta Psi
GWU Men's Swimming and Diving
GWU Men's Soccer
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Howard University Alpha Phi Omega
November Project DC
Promontory Financial Group
Revolution Foods
Trinity Washington University

If you asked any kid their favorite part of Fall Frenzy, you'd likely get a different answer. Many, of course, said the soccer. They relished the chance to not just play, but take on new teams from all over Washington, DC (during our regular game days, teams don't travel too far for games because of late school dismissals and traffic). Others loved the relay races. Others showed off their "Messi" facepainting. And at the end of the day, kids rushed to the table where Horton and Korb sat, handing them shoes and anything elee for autographs. Talon, obviously, was another big hit.

The action-packed day left kids, and their families, exhausted as the field quickly cleared at 2:30pm, the goals, booths and people gone within 30 minutes. By 3pm, it was as if nothing had even happened.

Those who experienced it know much better. Here's some photo evidence.

FALL FRENZY 2016 BY THE NUMBERS

• 1,000+ kids
• 160+ volunteers
• 96 soccer games
• 22 partner groups 
• 11 activity booths
• 1 mascot 

Communities, partners come together for 18th Annual DC SCORES Fall Frenzy

Written by Jake Lloyd
Communications Manager
@jakelam2116

View photos on Flickr
View the Social Media Storify HERE

If anyone wasn't sure about DC SCORES' whole-child approach to building teams -- not just through sports, or the arts, or academics -- Saturday's Fall Frenzy proved it.

Here was the scene for the 18th annual outdoor mid-season celebration of the fall.

On the main soccer field (and up a hill, too) at Trinity Washington University, kids played eight soccer games -- one after another, the girls followed by the boys. Large throngs of family members and friends lined the sidelines often three-deep, cheering on the kids while dancing to DJ RBI's beats and posing for selfies with D.C. United mascot Talon.

Neon yellow shirts dotted the fields, a large cadre of volunteers new and old running the games, having fun with the kids, and doing some teaching as well.

When the horn blew, each of the 30-plus teams picked up their belongings and walked -- or ran or skipped -- down the hill to ... poetry and books!

Thanks to our longtime partner Junior League of Washington, every kid received a book. At the adjacent table, each child also wrote a spooky Halloween poem using the writing tools they've developed in creative-expression workshops since early September.

Poem and book in hand, kids then took a seat for a much-needed rest while getting their faces painted -- yet another station run entirely by engaged, energetic and, of course, artistic volunteers!

And then before heading back to the soccer field, kids loosened those leg muscles and got in all kinds of laughs crab-walking, three-legged racing and doing jumping jacks at the relay race station led by awesome free-fitness partner November Project.

But wait, there were two more stops before returning to game play -- the D.C. United and Penya Barcelonista shooting stations. At the D.C. United stop, kids tested out their leg strength trying to kick the ball as hard as possible into an inflatable moon-bounce type apparatus. At the Penya station led by a group of high school kids from the Edmund Burke School, kids were taken through accuracy drills as they aimed for points targets.

By the time teams returned to the soccer fields, they were well-rested, feeling artistic, full of giggles and more than prepared for another game.

Fall Frenzy wouldn't have been possible for more than 1,000 kids and hundreds of family and community members without the support and bodies provided by our many partners. Revolution Foods brought healthy lunches for everyone; DrinkMore Water donated all the water; D.C. United brought the always-popular Talon; the partners mentioned above ran all the booths; and approximately 125 volunteers -- including a huge group from American University -- made the day run smoothly from beginning setup at 5:45am to leaving the facility in perfect condition at 3pm.

And every kid, having experienced a bit of everything, was exhausted and ready for a nap!

Fall DC SCORES primer: What to expect!

Yes, the first day of fall is still one day away. Yet the DC SCORES fall season is in full throttle, with kids all over Washington, DC, learning soccer skills and opening up their poetry notebooks for the first time. Teams are being built by incredible, inspiring, trusting coaches! Soccer uniforms are being distributed!

Game days are almost just a week away. We're only a month away from the first premier event. And before you know it, full-fledged Poetry Slam! prep will be underway in classrooms from Ward 8 to Ward 4.

But enough writing. Check out the infographics and video below for your primer on the fall season, and visit www.DCSCORES.org to learn more.

The Numbers

The Events

The How

DC SCORES Fall Frenzy serves multiple purposes for program participants and coaches

The Burrville Eagles.

As Tom Mason stood watching his C.W. Harris Elementary School Vikings soccer team play yet another game, he thought back to the previous year.

Only three of Mason's students were able to attend the 2012 DC SCORES Fall Frenzy. While the trio had loads of fun, the youth also took away tangible benefits from the event.

"They ended up being some of my best players last year because they were like, 'Wow, we've got to step it up. We can do this!'" Mason said.

"Seeing all the other teams and the different talent levels, they get to see different tricks and different things other teams are doing so they get a better understanding of the game."

This year, Mason had a much larger group of Vikings and was confident they would come away from the 16th Annual Fall Frenzy Saturday at Trinity Washington University with a greater understanding of the game and what they need to do to get better.

"I'm able to teach them, 'Look at how they were passing, look at how they were shooting,'" Mason said of playing against a handful of other teams from throughout the District.

"'We might have to play a team like this. You know how good they are? We gotta focus better, we gotta get on this if we want to be as good as them.'"

That motivation to improve was just one aspect of DC SCORES' fall celebration for hundreds of students representing 30 elementary schools. Mixed in with the soccer games were all kinds of fun and goofy activities.

It was a family fun day that went on and on and on -- much to the kids' liking.

With DJ RBI blaring songs both past and present, the corner of the field he occupied from 9am-2:30pm often became a grass-laden dance floor. Teams even took a breather during their soccer games to do the Cha Cha Slide.

The main field at Trinity contained a flurry of soccer activity, with six games played simultaneously -- one after another. Up a small hill, three more fields featured game after game. First, the girls would play, followed by the boys. Then a horn would sound, and teams would move on to their next game or activity.

The activity stations were down the hill from the DJ booth, and were no less fun than the soccer -- often involving the sport, too. At one station, volunteers led a relay race. A student would start by doing something such as somersaults or running backward to one end; they would then receive a paper instruction from a volunteer to dance, spin or cartwheel back -- you get the point.

Adjacent to the relay races, kids practiced their shooting accuracy on a big net set up by partner Penya Barcelonista. When done with that, they tried scoring on a real goalkeeper at another big goal -- putting their practice into action (before, of course, they headed back up the hill for game action) ... but not before exercising their minds and creative sides at a Halloween bag-decorating station and a poetry writing table.

This is what a student from Imagine Hope Community Charter School wrote about the different aspects of autumn:

I am something that falls
I am something that you eat
I am something you love
I am something you drink
I am something that falls from the tree
Who am I?


In between activities, teams took turns visiting the Revolution Foods truck where wraps, vegetables and fruit provided a healthy lunch to keep kids energized well into the afternoon. Participants stayed hydrated as the weather slowly warmed thanks to a generous donation from long-time partner DrinkMore Water. And all minor injuries were healed quickly thanks to Sport and Spine Rehab's expert team.

The event also featured a special guest, as Talon, D.C. United's mascot, made an appearance and was immediately swarmed for photo opportunities by anyone and everyone who caught sight of the big bird.

The Fall Frenzy was a great chance, too, for parents who work during the week to see their children in action on the soccer field. Parents filled out surveys about the program's impact and took home giveaways and coupons from our partner Modell's Sporting Goods.

And they walked away feeling proud of how much their kids have grown within their DC SCORES teams.

"She thinks I'm too hard on her but I'm very excited (watching)," said Gregory Hawkins, whose daughter Taylor is a fourth-grader at Anne Beers Elementary School. "I just like to see the fact that she takes interest in playing sports."

The Fall Frenzy would not have been possible or run so smoothly -- from nine soccer fields, to six booths, to the lunch truck, to the parent tent -- without the largest showing of volunteers ever for such an event. Decked out in neon-yellow shirts, with a special design for the referees, nearly 100 individuals spread out across the the complex to make a difference for DC youth.

Volunteer referee Justin Feltman.

Justin Feltman has refereed elementary school soccer games all fall and was happy to do six or seven more Saturday and get to see new teams play.

"Win or lose, it seemed like everyone was pretty happy, which is awesome because an important part of sportsmanship is being able to handle losing well," Feltman said after reffing his final game. "It was just great to be a part of that kind of environment and hang out with the kids, get to know them a little bit."

As the music died down and 30 teams in an array of DC SCORES T-shirts walked up the hill toward the awaiting buses, participants reflected on an action-packed day.

"It didn't matter if we won or lost. We were having fun!" an Imagine Hope student said.

"Getting my face painted!" Malik from Thomson said of his favorite part of the Fall Frenzy.

"Playing soccer!" added Thomson midfielder and forward Jason.

Added Kevin of Marie Reed: "This is my first year coming to the Fall Frenzy. What I like about it is going against other schools and working together as a team."

As Mason can attest, that experience will likely pay off for many teams as the DC SCORES fall soccer and poetry season heads toward its final month.

Over 800 students exercise their minds, soccer skills at action-packed 15th Annual Fall Frenzy

Aaliyah C. counted on her fingers, making sure the syllables added up. 

5-7-5

That was the breakdown she needed, as she tried different combinations of words. Leaning on the table, amidst her teammates with the clock ticking, Aaliyah had the concentration of a test taker. She strove to complete this haiku for Davis' Team Awesome in its competition against the Super Team.

One after another, the lines came to her and she wrote them on the pad of paper:

We play soccer well/
On the field we make assists/
We are great players

Success! Aaliyah felt a great sense of accomplishment with the completion of her first ever haiku. The volunteers from 826DC could be thanked for this. There aren't too many haiku contests out there for DC youth.

"It's awesome," Aaliyah said. "I got to learn how to make a sentence of five (syllables), a sentence of seven, and then another one of five."

That was just one lesson learned by over 800 elementary school students during the 15th Annual DC SCORES Fall Frenzy Saturday at Anacostia Park. Hundreds of parents and community partners also came out to see their children play in soccer games; get their faces painted; run relay races; practice their shooting accuracy; and a lot more.

This was the first year the Fall Frenzy was held at Anacostia Park, and it was the perfect venue to accommodate so much activity. See if you can imagine all that was going on at once:

At the northernmost part of the grassy expanse, DJ RBI spun jams throughout the day, which kept participants' energy level high and also led to plenty of dancing.

To RBI's right, hundreds of parents stopped by a tent where they filled out surveys about their children's experience in DC SCORES. Toward the end of the day, names were drawn and an extremely excited mother won a raffle for a game console donated by The Century Council.

To the right of the tent, a large goal was set up with target-practice patches strung to it — "30," "40," "50." DC SCORES partner Penya Barcelonista ran a shooting accuracy contest for each team that came through. When it was Thomson Elementary's turn, coaches Pharis Owens and Popsie Lewis provided more incentive for their students by placing their faces right up against the targets. Talk about living dangerously!

Adjacent to the Penya shooting station, students engaged in a relay race you've probably never seen before. Each student had to carry a soccer ball on a cone to a volunteer, who held up a flashcard with a word on it. The student then had to say a word that rhymed with the written word before turning around and carrying the ball to the next student in line. When a Tubman Elementary student saw "Mellow" on the card, they didn't need any time to think.

"Yellow!" 

A few hundred feet behind the Penya station to the south, the soccer fields were spread out across a wide area of grass. During every 25-minute period, nine games were ongoing. First, the girls would play, followed by the boys. Every school played a handful of games, many of them against schools they had never seen before. 

Afterward, a Davis Elementary School student — his faced painted half black, half white — beamed as he told me about his first goal ever scored in a DC SCORES uniform. His moment was one of dozens experienced by the nine elementary schools participating in the event for the first time.

To the northeast of the soccer fields, several tables and tents were set up and surrounded by hordes of students taking a break from the soccer action. At two of the tables, volunteers painted designs, school names, favorite numbers and more on the faces and arms of students who had plenty of Halloween spirit. 

After getting their tattoos, students topped by The Century Council table where they picked up soccer bags and filled them with free books, sunglasses and more giveaways from our awesome partner. Then they took all their free stuff to the 826 tent for some haiku writing followed by a stop at the Starbucks tent for arts and crafts activities.

After all that, students took a break from activity at the lunch area and did a little dancing to the beats of DJ RBI before heading back out to the soccer fields.

Exhausted reading this?

But wait, there's more...

Thanks to a very generous donation from greeNEWit, hundreds of kids who arrived at the Frenzy wearing high tops for their soccer shoes left the event sporting used soccer cleats. They couldn't have been happier with a bag full of Halloween candy. They also walked away with Modell's Sporting Goods water bottles and bags thanks to a donation from our partner. And any injuries sustained during the long day of exercise were healed thanks to the medical expertise and soothing powers of Sport and Spine Rehab trainers. 

There was no better indication of how enjoyable the event was than the number of volunteers who showed up throughout the day. Whether they were painting faces, refereeing games, serving lunch or picking up trash, volunteers made the Fall Frenzy run smoothly from start to finish. 

Several of the volunteers were either DC SCORES alumni — eager to give back to the program — or middle school participants who also wanted to make the day special for the elementary school students. These students' eagerness to contribute to the day demonstrated their love for the program and desire to stay connected to it.

The day was awesome/
Kids everywhere, parents too/
Thank you everyone!

Elementary school students prepare for 15th Annual DC SCORES Fall Frenzy

I'll never forget the time I coached the Wheatley Whales for a day.

The occasion was the 2010 DC SCORES Fall Frenzy, and I was filling in for a coach who was unable to make the event. When I arrived outside Wheatley Education Campus around 8am, I was quickly awakened out of my grogginess by a group of enthusiastic -- understatement -- kids decked out in purple soccer jerseys, adidas shorts, shinguards and socks.

The Wheatley team wasn't large that day -- there were maybe nine or 10 of them -- but they treated every minute of the five-hour event as if it was the greatest day and the most amazing experience of their lives.

Even if they were just playing soccer games, getting their faces painted, and writing poems.

This Saturday, over 800 DC youth will get that same experience when DC SCORES' 27 elementary schools take over Anacostia Park for the 15th Annual Fall Frenzy. You can still sign up to volunteer for the event, which runs from 9:30am until 2:30pm.

As was the case for those Wheatley Whales, there will be round-robin soccer games throughout the day. What makes these games special is that students of schools from different parts of the city who don't play each other during our regular game days get to compete against one another, interact with one another, and often form friendships that continue during DC SCORES' summer camps. 

When students aren't playing soccer games, they're at one of our stations where the fun doesn't dissipate. They're:

• Getting their faces painted, always a favorite station, by our amazing volunteers!
• Doing arts and crafts at our Starbucks station. Our long-time partner also provides coffee in the morning.
• Learning soccer skills at the Penya Barcelonista Washington D.C. fan club station (be like Messi!), where ABC sports anchor and former college soccer player Britt McHenry will also be.
• Writing haikus and learning all about poetry with our awesome friends from 826DC.
• Getting free sunglasses, magnets, bookmarks and T-shirts at The Century Council's table!
• Eating lunch or taking a short break from the action!

Whatever the students are doing, they love it and it wears them out. I clearly remember how exhausted all the Wheatley kids were on that bus ride back to school two years ago.

And I can't imagine how disappointing it would have been for them had they missed out on the DC SCORES Fall Frenzy. 

We hope to see you -- and over 800 exuberant youth -- Saturday at Anacostia Park!

Teams come together, grow stronger at Fall Frenzy celebration

When the Garfield Elementary School bus pulled up to Kelly Miller Middle School last Saturday morning, its occupants weren’t exactly itching to get off it.

“They were more worried about how cold it was outside than the teams (they’d be playing),” said Garfield soccer coach Terrell Clifford. “They were like, ‘Do we have to go out here? It’s freezing!’”

It wasn’t exactly an auspicious start to the first Fall Frenzy for DC SCORES’ newest elementary school. However, some five hours later, Clifford could laugh about it. By then, his small, tight-knit group of poet-athletes was mostly smiles, as the kids thoroughly enjoyed the large program event.

“They’re pretty much in awe of what’s going on,” Clifford said as he watched Garfield play its last of four games, “but they’re enjoying every second of it.”

Over 800 poet-athletes participated in the 14th annual celebration of the fall season, which drew more than 1,000 people total to Kelly Miller in Ward 7, including parents; community members; a large number of volunteers, many of them program alumni; program partners; and others.

The Fall Frenzy was funded by DC Stoddert Soccer and the District’s Department of Parks and Recreation. In addition to cross-city soccer games played on nine adjacent fields, poet-athletes enjoyed facepainting; writing Haikus at the 826 DC table; running relay races with volunteers from Rotaract; creating arts and crafts at the Starbucks table; and testing their kicking accuracy and working on headers with Penya Barcelonista, DC’s official FC Barcelonia fan club. Kids also took advantage of free water bottles provided by Modell's Sporting Goods and danced -- sometimes while on the soccer field -- to the music played by DJ RBI.

At the beginning of the morning, DC SCORES Athletic Director Kenny Owens brought all the teams together to show off their school pride and kick off the day. Then, with the blaring of the mega horn, teams were dispersed, and within a minute, Kelly Miller’s athletic fields and parking lot were filled with 27 different colors.

The enormity of the event could be a little intimidating for first-time participants, especially with so many bigger kids on many of the elementary school teams. When Clifford’s group of mostly third-graders prepared to play Perry Street Prep -- which featured several fifth-graders -- the poet-athletes couldn’t believe the size of their opponents.

“Man, they’re bigger than us, I’m gonna run through their legs!” one third-grader said.

“They too big! They giants,” another poet-athlete lamented.

“Coach, tell us something!” said a third.

After a brief huddle, though, Garfield’s players relaxed with a chant of “1 … 2 … 3 .. Garfield!” and played a fearless game against the much bigger kids.

And that is all Clifford can ask of his poet-athletes at this point in the season. Starting a team at a school where most students have never touched a soccer ball or heard of a throw-in isn’t easy, Clifford knows, and he’s taking things one day at a time.

“It’s definitely a process and I think we’re getting there slowly but surely,” Clifford said. “I think the success for our team is just working together for a whole match or a half. If we’re fortunate enough to score a goal, that’s a big gain.

“A little icing on the cake.”

A few minutes later, Clifford was enjoying that icing and let out a “Yeahhhhh!!!” after his team put together a scoring play. For all its struggles against bigger, more experienced teams for most of the day, one goal more than made Garfield’s trip to Kelly Miller well worth it.

At Garfield’s first home game a few weeks back, the team received incredible support, as Clifford estimated that 70 to 80 people -- including the school band, parents and faculty members -- came out to cheer on the team. A smaller group of supporters was on hand Saturday, encouraging and giving courage to the team as it navigated uncharted territory.

And by the end of the day, no poet-athletes were complaining anymore. Except about the fact that the day, and the games, was over.

“Everyone has progressed in the same pattern,” Clifford said. “It’s a team effort for the most part.

“They’ve got some fire under them.”