A New School Year Begins with Coach Kickoff
Coach Kickoff is a training and networking event offered to coaches at the beginning of the DC SCORES season.
On September 6, 2025, DC SCORES launched a new programming year with Coach Kickoff.
The training and networking event, offered at the beginning of each DC SCORES season, brings together coaches from across the program to learn about best practices, gain organizational updates, and connect with their peers from across the city.
Fall season Coach Kickoff is the first event of the new school year, and Saturday’s event set the tone for programming for 2025-2026.
This fall’s session covered several topics, including updates to site management processes, how to make programming inclusive for young people of all backgrounds, and the introduction of new tools and activities to incorporate into soccer and poetry sessions.
Charity Blackwell, DC SCORES Chief of Arts and Culture, led a workshop on inclusive coaching. The training was offered with funding from the adidas Foundation’s United by Sport grant, which supports organizations, including DC SCORES, that harness the power of sport to promote equality and fight hate and discrimination.
Blackwell engaged coaches in discussions about how discrimination — including discrimination based on religion or belief, racial or ethnic origin, gender, sex, ability, age, sexual orientation, and more — impacts DC SCORES youth and their families, and shared practices coaches can implement to create environments that respect all identities, promote safety and inclusivity, and help Poet-Athletes thrive.
“I will implement today’s training by ensuring that all Poet-Athletes feel included, seen, and safe in our soccer and writing environments,” said Jenna Pel, a middle school coach at The Sojourner Truth School. “As DC SCORES coaches, we all hope to be safe adults that our Poet-Athletes remember as positive influences in their lives.”
In other sessions, Executive Director Katrina Owens shared updates about how DC SCORES is responding to new safety and law enforcement contexts in the city, the organization’s long-term plan for growth, and how DC SCORES is solidifying partnerships with public and public charter schools.
In the afternoon, program specialists led practical sessions exploring how best to implement DC SCORES’ soccer and poetry curriculum, which included ball skills demonstrations, writing activities, and strategies for engaging new and continuing learners.
Tyler Ellis, a DC SCORES coach at Thomson Elementary, left the session with a renewed excitement for the upcoming year. He said, “With DC SCORES, I feel empowered to create an environment that echoes the mantra ‘You Got This!’ Intentional sessions about inclusive spaces and fair play remind me of why I started coaching: to create a level playing field where everyone feels welcomed.”
