Open Mic NIght

What a great evening!  We had over 60 poet-athletes and parents in the Starbucks that evening.  Boy was it crowded!  The children did a fantastic job reciting their poems.  Our next one is at the same location (Starbucks on La Vista Drive in Dallas) Novemver 29th from 7:00-8:00pm.  Hope to see you there! 

Thankful for Dallas SCORES November

Wow!  Have we been busy!  It takes a lot of work to run 9 schools, but what a joy to be able to say that!  Our poet-athletes are getting acquainted with the new season.  Most of our poet-athletes are new, but are catching on real quickly!  We have already hosted 3 soccer game days, playing 4 games at once between our 9 schools.  The kids always look so excited on game day.  We are also working on preparing for the Poetry SLAM! that will be held in December.  The poems are coming along just fine and some even tend to crack us up!  We can't wait to hear them all! 

We would like to send out a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who helped put together our 2011 Soccer Ball and to every one who attended that wonderful evening.  Also to the children of Cesar Chavez for sharing their poetry with us that night!  What a great event!

Open Mic Nights are on 11/9 and 11/29 from 6:00pm-7:00pm at the Starbucks on La Vista Drive in Dallas.  Come out and watch our kids share some of their work from this season and grab a cup of coffee, too!  THANK YOU STARBUCKS for hosting us!

Our Poetry SLAM!  will be held at Maria Moreno Elementary  @ 2115 South Hampton in Dallas.  Come out and support our kids and see who will be the next boy and girl chosen to present their work in NEW YORK! 

Ready....Set......GOAL!!!!!

And we've started!!!!! Not only has season kicked off, but we kicked it off big time with 6 new schools.  That makes a total of 9 schools for us this year! 

I would like to welcome all of our schools:
Cesar Chavez Learning Center
Steven Park Elementary
Anson Jones Elementary
Ignacio Zaragoza Elementary
L.O. Donald Elementary
Leslie A. Stemmons Elementary
Maria Moreno Elementary
John W. Carpenter Elementary
Nancy J. Cochran Elementary

And a BIG thanks goes out to Big Thought for working with us! 

We are so happy to have everyone with us, new and old!  Our first game will be Friday October, 14th @ 4pm.  We will have 4 games going on at 4 different locations (Anson Jones, Cochran, Moreno, Zaragoza). Come out and see one of the games!

Whole Foods 5% Community Giving Day

This year we launched a happy partnership with our local Whole Foods on Park Lane. They adopted us as their organization of choice for the annual 5% Community Giving Day, a day on which 5% of sales will be donated to ASD.

Our 5% Day was yesterday! The entire ASD office spent the day at Whole Foods on Park Lane and shared our program with the community. Four of our Poet-Athletes from Cesar Chavez Learning Center joined us and helped thank customers for their part in helping support our program. It was a special day to celebrate our shared passion for the health of our community's children with Whole Foods and their customers.

We would also like to wholeheartedly acknowledge the hard work and support of Krista Brown and Annette Boardman, both of whom made this day possible. Thank you!

Groupon + ASD = Healthy Snack Campaign

The “Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds” campaign will be available on Groupon Dallas’ G-Team page beginning on Tuesday, August 23rd and running through Thursday, August 25th. Utilizing G-Team’s collective action model, Groupon followers can pledge support for the Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds initiative in increments of $10, with each $10 providing healthy snacks for one poet-athlete (ASD student) for an entire semester.

America SCORES Dallas will distribute the healthy snacks to the participating DISD schools during the organization’s after-school soccer and poetry program. Approximately 100% of the participating students are from households that are at or below the poverty level and do not have access to low cost healthful food, making these healthy snacks a vital part of both a student’s engagement in their after-school activities and their overall nutrition during each day.

“It is exciting and a privilege that Groupon has chosen America SCORES Dallas to be the first G-Team campaign in the Dallas market. This opportunity will allow us to raise more awareness about the work we do,” says Robert Hernandez, Executive Director, “By providing our students with a healthy snack every day, Dallas residents can help our poet-athletes get the nutrition they need to fully engage in their afterschool enrichment activities.”

The G-Team partnership is part of ASD grassroots approach to raising awareness of the importance of proper nutrition and nutrition education for our youth to combat childhood obesity, especially in high-risk populations. The schools that participate in ASD’s program are in the most under-served neighborhoods in urban Dallas and lack access to health education and fresh healthy food. America SCORES Dallas serves approximately 288 students in 9 DISD schools.

8th Annual Soccer Ball is Coming!

America SCORES Dallas' 8th Annual Soccer Ball Auction and Gala, Kick It Up a Notch!, is our largest fund and friend raiser of the year.  Historically the Soccer Ball brings together over 200 guests, all philanthropic leaders in Dallas, each year and has raised over $1 Million dollars over the last 7 years.

For our 8th Annual Soccer Ball on October 21, we are really "Kicking it up a Notch!"  Scott Romano of Charlie Palmer will provide a culinary adventure throughout the evening, exciting live and silent auction items will incite heated bidding wars, and a poetry performance from our poet-athletes will inspire.

Help us "Kick it up a Notch" this year!  Learn more and get involved by visiting our website. You can donate auction items, suggest businesses as donors, and purchase your ticket or table!

Girls in the Game

On Sunday, the USA v Brazil World Cup game proved to be as entertaining as Transformers 3 on a hot summer day. In 3-D. Although there were no space robots or Michael Bay explosions, the game featured a goal within the first two minutes of play, a harsh referee, a devastating red card, an overtime goal by Brazil’s five-time FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, a last minute (in extra extra overtime) equalizer by the US, and a penalty save during the game deciding shoot out.  

And yet, this game earned a 2.6 overnight rating for ESPN compared to last year’s World Cup USA vs Ghana game’s 9.9 rating. The difference? Last year was the men’s World Cup and this year is the women’s World Cup.

Why the disparity? The answer may be found in the history of soccer. The first Women’s World Cup was held in 1999, 61 years after the first Men’s World Cup. From an historical perspective, women’s soccer has had less time to gain popularity and professional development. However, the history of women’s soccer parallels the world’s reception and attitude toward women playing soccer. Here is a great (albeit old) article about women’s soccer vs. men’s soccer. Mostly the differences cited are those of resources, support, and youth coaching. The lack of interest for women’s sports produces a lack of funding and thus less opportunity to develop the profession. This vicious cycle has led to a complicated state of affairs for women’s soccer. Yet, it can be as simple as - getting girls in the game.

Getting girls in the game is as valuable for promoting the future of women’s soccer as it is for the girls who play the game. According to Team-Up for Youth, “Sports and physical activity can give girls positive body image, improved self esteem, tangible experiences of competency and success and increased self confidence.” Through soccer, girls gain a breadth of experiences and life skills that they would otherwise not always have the opportunity to acquire. The good news for women’s soccer? More potential players, supporters, and fans. With new generations, there is hope that women’s soccer will finally get the attention that they deserve.

See how we are helping get girls in the game: visit us at www.americascoresdallas.org

Watch the USA’s semifinal game against France on ESPN3 on Wednesday, July 13th at 10:30 AM.