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\nSoccer and poetry might not seem to have much in common, but one local non-profit unites them toward a common goal: empowering kids. DC SCORES runs free, year-round soccer programs and poetry workshops for thousands of kids in the District. After building teamwork on the soccer field, they go on to perform original spoken word poetry for standing-room-only audiences in the program\u2019s annual poetry slams. But how did such a quirky yet perfect combination come to be? DC SCORES representatives Tony Francavilla and Charity Blackwell chatted with us about the program and shared some of their favorite stories about their young poet-athletes.<\/p>\n
\nTony:<\/strong> DC SCORES started in 1994 at Marie Reed Elementary School in Adams Morgan with one Teach for America teacher \u2014 her name was Julie Kennedy. She noticed that a half dozen or so of her girls were hanging out in front of the school without much to do after class. And if you would have seen Adams Morgan 23 or 24 years ago, that was not a place where anyone would ever want kids hanging around.<\/p>\n It so happened that she was a college soccer player, so she started working with the girls after school, teaching them the game. When the weather got bad, she had to find something for them to do inside. Her art form of choice was poetry, so they started reflecting on things in their neighborhood and working on some impromptu poetry prompts that she would offer them.<\/p>\n At a certain point, this writing for expression turned into writing for action, and the final piece of our three-pronged approach came about: service learning. In the fall, the kids are reflecting on issues that they\u2019re dealing with in school, at home, with themselves, and writing poetry about it. Come the spring, they\u2019re actually looking at their neighborhood and thinking, \u201cHow can I address some of these issues?\u201d Then they start doing service projects. Hence DC SCORES was born, combining soccer, poetry, and service learning.<\/p>\n Fast forward to now: we serve 2,500 kids a year, we\u2019re in 59 schools and rec centers, and we offer year-round after-school programming. And it\u2019s not a la carte, so no kid can say, \u201cI dig the soccer thing but I don\u2019t really wanna do this poetry stuff.\u201d You have to do all of it. So by the end of the season, every kid has had an opportunity to work outside of their comfort zone. Every kid has had an opportunity to be a leader.<\/p>\n Tony:<\/strong> People get the soccer thing. It\u2019s very visible, and there\u2019s a huge soccer ball on our logo \u2014 but there\u2019s also a pencil going through it. People don\u2019t always know what that\u2019s about. But we\u2019re getting a lot better at showing them.<\/p>\n It happened to be a coincidence that one amazing teacher was interested in both soccer and poetry, and that\u2019s how it all started. But the way it\u2019s worked out, kids will build trust on the soccer field. They\u2019re part of a team. So when they\u2019re doing these poetry workshops, they\u2019re able to be a little more vulnerable, a little more honest. They\u2019ve got each other\u2019s backs.<\/p>\n Charity:<\/strong> I remember meeting with our chief of staff, maybe two years ago, talking about how y\u2019all got the soccer stuff down pat. Y\u2019all have the partnerships, you\u2019ve got the money flowing, everything was good. Y\u2019all need to tighten up the poetry though.<\/p>\n In college I was very involved with the spoken word scene. I\u2019ve been writing poetry my entire life. I now host at Busboys and Poets [a popular D.C.-area restaurant and bookstore that hosts spoken word poetry performances], and I\u2019ve been up and down the east coast performing. So for DC SCORES I started bringing on artists that I\u2019ve met throughout the city, locally, and nationally, and that really started to elevate the poetry aspect of the program. I think we\u2019re going in a good direction.<\/p>\nAre the soccer and poetry totally separate, or do you see any interplay between those two aspects of the program?<\/h4>\n
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