Why was The SCORES Network founded?

A legacy parter of the 1994 World Cup, SCORES was started in 1994 in Washington, DC by public school teacher Julie Kennedy, who noticed that her students had limited access to after-school activities. Ms Kennedy realized that the combination of two seemingly unrelated activities, poetry and soccer, complemented each other through mutual involvement in public performance, self-expression, and group support. The relationships that developed through teamwork and leadership on the soccer field translated to peer support in poetry workshops. The skills later allowed these poet-athletes to act as agents of change within their community through a variety of service-learning projects. The program quickly expanded throughout DC and, in 1999, Kennedy launched sites in Boston and Chicago. Today, SCORES has a presence in 13 cities across the US and Canada: Bay Area, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Boston, New York, Seattle, Vancouver, St. Louis, Miami, Toronto and Washington, DC.

Why soccer and poetry?

Founder Julie Kennedy would bring her poet-athletes inside when the weather was too bad for soccer and practice poetry with them. She found that soccer and poetry are a unique combination because both involve a level of vulnerability, bravery, and expression that make them a perfect pair. Our poet-athletes build teamwork on the field, trusting each other and themselves, so when they go into the classroom and begin to explore their feelings, they feel comfortable sharing them with each other and are able to truly use poetry as a means of healing.

Why isn’t your league competitive?

Rather than creating a structure of winners and losers, we look to create opportunities for growth. Focusing on being a committed teammate and leader better prepares young people for life off the field and outside the classroom. Using our SCORES 3.0 approach, we’re shifting our poet-athletes’ awareness to "Fair Play" points reflecting core values of teamwork, leadership, and commitment and how others demonstrate them, rather than focusing solely on the score of the game.

Why is poetry important for kids?

Now more than ever, our young people are experiencing high levels of stress and confusion due to school, the pandemic, systemic inequality, and the everyday stressors that come with being a young person. Through poetry, our poet-athletes are able to express those feelings while building trust and empathy with their teammates and coaches.

How do you involve the communities in your program?

America SCORES New York prioritizes community partnerships and engagement throughout large community events, relationships with local schools, CBOs and the NYC Parks and Recreation Department, and civic engagement projects in which our poet-athletes identify something they want to be changed in their community and exploring means to execute those plans.

What is SEL?

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

What is SBYD?

SBYD is a subfield of youth development that focuses specifically on the positive development outcomes that can accompany an intentional, well-organized sports program (Edgework, 2010). Many scholars have explored the links that exist between positive youth development (PYD) and sports (Holt, 2007; Jones, Dunn, Holt, Sullivan, Philip, & Bloom, 2011). Further, SBYD has been examined as a useful tool for helping youth heal from complex trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (D’Andrea, Bergholz, Fortunato & Spinazzaloa, 2013; Kolk, 2015; Henley, 2005).