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Thousands of DC SCORES students and their families celebrated a successful spring season at the Anacostia Park event. Photo: Cody Cervenka.

Poet-athletes’ happiness was evident on June 3, 2023, when DC SCORES held its annual Jamboree event for elementary school students and their families at Anacostia Park.

From 9 am, DC SCORES teams arrived in buses to be enthusiastically welcomed by DC SCORES staff and volunteers. Throughout the day, each school rotated through different activity stations, enjoying an array of games, crafts, and entertainment.

Jamboree is DC SCORES’ annual soccer tournament and community festival that serves more than 2,500 kids and family members every year. The event is an opportunity for East and Westside schools in the DC SCORES program to come together and celebrate the culmination of the nonprofit’s spring season.

Many poet-athletes invited their families to cheer them on in competitive 7v7 soccer matches, dance along with music from DJ RBI, and introduce them to friends and coaches over lunch.

Students from Leckie and Anne Beers Elementary Schools dance along to music from DJ RBI. Photo: Cody Cervenka.

Some of Jamboree’s main attractions included the five large sports-themed inflatables, where kids could practice their soccer shooting skills, baseball swing, and football aim. Next door at the craft station, there were opportunities to get temporary tattoos and create scratch paper artwork. Poet-athletes also interacted with special guests throughout the day, including the D.C. United mascot, Talon, and freestyle players from Undefined Fútbol.

Poet-athletes showed off their skills from the season across the 10 game fields set up in the park, while the relay race stations also provided an opportunity for friendly competition. Classics such as the potato sack relay fostered team spirit as determined students raced toward the finish line.

Additional activities at the event included sack relay races, craft stations, and sports inflatables. Photo: Cody Cervenka.

The event was staffed by a large contingent of volunteers, including from Kiwanis Club DC, which provided numerous volunteers who assisted with set-up and breakdown, refereeing, and staffing activity stations.

“Our volunteers dug in and did an excellent job from start to finish. We couldn’t have asked for better support,” said Jason Gross, Senior Program Director for Soccer and Operations at DC SCORES, and the event lead for Jamboree. “Jamboree was a huge success and my favorite moments came while I watched the poet-athletes laugh and play throughout the various activities.”

Jamboree was supported by a large cohort of volunteers. Photo: Cody Cervenka.