Since 2001, the Bay Area chapter of nonprofit America SCORES has been providing opportunities for low-income youth to participate in organized soccer leagues, service learning, and creative-writing development through poetry. It offers all its services at no direct cost to families.
“A big theme in SF that I’ve noticed is pay-to-play: if you want to play any organized sport, you have to dish out a lot of money,” says Genki Watanabe, program manager for SCORES' Civic Center league. Since 2013, SCORES has operated the Civic Center league on the grass fields at Civic Center Plaza, targeting low-income schools where 50 percent or more of youth are receiving free or reduced lunches.
Photo: Blair Czarecki/Hoodline
With the help of the San Francisco Department of Recreation and Parks, all four grass fields are transformed into soccer fields each Friday from 4-5pm, with all-boys, all-girls, and co-ed teams participating. Community-based organizations pick up the tab for youth to participate in SCORES opportunities, which are part of SFUSD’s ExCEL-funded after-school programs.
Generally, CBOs will subcontract out SCORES for either the spring or fall season, with a few utilizing them for the entire school year. Youth participating in SCORES' citywide programs are eligible to practice soccer during after-school hours, work with their peers on self-designed community service projects, and participate in organized Saturday games, held at Crocker-Amazon’s turf fields.
The Civic Center league is focused on giving residents of District 6 access to more convenient playing fields, while still providing on-site support in all of their program areas. Instead of traveling out to Crocker-Amazon, the league's participants are just a short walk away from the playing fields.
“We don’t have games at specific school sites, because we want the youth to see that it’s the whole neighborhood that's a part of the program, and that they all share the same passion for playing soccer and writing poetry,” says Watanabe. “The most rewarding thing to see is the home away from home we have built with this community. They have this fun and safe place that is for them, where everyone knows each other. It’s like friends playing with friends.”
Photo: Blair Czarecki/Hoodline
"We are trying to make goals and practice a lot to get a good sportsmanship patch," says José, a fourth-grader at Tenderloin Community School and SCORES participant. His favorite parts of the games, he says, include trying to make goals, eating snacks, and taking advantage of the free books that SCORES gives out at the end of each game.
Currently, SCORES is fundraising for its Field of Dreams initiative, which helps install turf fields at participating school sites that only offer traditional asphalt playing surfaces. Redding Elementary School, at the edge of the Tenderloin, had its field converted through the program last year. SCORES says that the addition of turf has created a safer practice space, and gives neighborhood youth more opportunities to play and be active.
This summer, SCORES will offer two camps at Civic Center: July 13th-17th and July 20th-24th. The regular Civic Center soccer league will resume in early October of 2015. To get involved, volunteers are encouraged to contact after-school providers at participating school sites; those in the Civic Center area can also email Watanabe directly.
