Tech Connect During the Pandemic
SCORES Embraces the best technology has to offer.
When San Francisco and surrounding Bay Area counties went into shelter-in-place in mid-March of 2020, America SCORES was prepared to respond to a new reality. In-person afterschool programs throughout the districts had ceased operations the prior week as schools hastily prepared for a transition to remote learning amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
Realizing that student and family needs would only escalate, SCORES pivoted quickly, transforming from a site-based physical program to an all-virtual one.
Step one was the expansion of SCORES U from a professional development platform for coaches into a fully-realized virtual student engagement portal. SCORES developed a suite of soccer missions and poetry quests designed to fine tune soccer skills and provide a creative outlet for students’ navigating the overlapping periods of isolation and Black Lives Matter protest. Check out their moving descriptions of life in shutdown here.
SCORES coach/mentors, meanwhile, have been using Scores U to develop robust lesson plans remotely. As with workplaces and schools throughout the country, Zoom replaced the classroom and the practice field. Adept in the technology, SCORES coaches have been experimenting with a wide array of social media platforms to connect with their students, using Instagram, Tik Tok, Google Classroom, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Google Hangouts. And purely for fun, several coaches collaborated to create a virtual talent show.
For the coaches themselves, the last several months have been transformative. “What’s inspired me the most has been how much trust and gratitude the parents of the parents of the students have shown us,” says program director Alex Argueta. “In these unusual times, SCORES is bringing normality into people’s lives by staying connected and demonstrating that we’re there for and with our SCORES families no matter what.”
And that meant showing up even as the SCORES staff themselves adjusted to a new reality. “The first couple of weeks of shelter-in-place were confusing and scary for me,” says program director Leah Morales. “Our purpose became more clear when messages, photos, and videos started to come in from our poet-athletes. Our students inspire me to work hard every day and to stay positive and present, and all of this has confirmed my belief that relationships matter most.”
As the pandemic temporarily shuttered game day tournaments, Chief Program Officer Yuri Morales launched Soccer on Saturdays for SCORES poet-athletes from throughout the Bay Area to come together for energetic online soccer practices led by Yuri and the SCORES coaching team. “When I was a kid, Saturday game days were such a big part of my life,” says Yuri. “The routine—going to soccer practice, preparing for the weekend game, drinking enough water, eating well, getting enough rest, getting ready mentally, enjoying the orange slices and social connectedness— added real stability to my life. During the game, I didn’t think about things that might be worrying me; I was just present in the moment. When we realized the Jamboree— the one big tournament of the year for SCORES kids—would be canceled, I knew we had to start Soccer Saturdays.”
The transformation continued in other directions as well. As the impact of Covid-19 reverberated through the financial markets and big fundraising events like the SCORES Corporate Cup and sit-down banquets were canceled, SCORES’ financial picture darkened. Fundraising dollars make up the bulk of SCORES’ $2.5 million annual budget.
Recognizing an opportunity to both raise funds and become a thought leader in the field, SCORES board chair Jon Denholz spearheaded the effort to create the virtual Soccer Coaches Summit in April of 2020. A small team of staff including Colin Schmidt, Hamza Al Hadari, and Alicia Yanow rallied with Jon to bring the series of talks to fruition. Held in partnership with regional affiliates, the Summit welcomed 8500 soccer coaches and players from around the country to learn together and share best practices. Held over several weeks, the free Summit hosted some of the biggest names in soccer, raised $30,000 in donations, and generated an overwhelmingly positive response. The funds raised were shared with all the America SCORES affiliates. High profile speakers included Bob Bradley MLS’s LAFC head coach and former U.S. Men’s National Team head coach (2006–2011); Anson Dorrance, University of North Carolina head coach and former U.S. Women’s National Team head coach 1986–1994); and Lynn Berling-Manuel, CEO of United Soccer, among numerous others. A second summit was held in early June, and new summits will debut monthly starting again in the fall.
And with the arrival of summer, programming continues unabated. SCORES has been working with its school-based partners to lead virtual summer programming and camps. Partners include the Bay Area Resource Center, Summerbridge, Mission Graduates, and the San Francisco Beacon Initiative, each of which will integrate the SCORES model into their summer camp programming.
So after all that, you want to see the energy and commitment up close? Scroll down to read the poems of SCORES poet athletes and check out the soccer fun in the links below!
And dive into dynamic soccer fun!