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Middle school poet-athletes battled it out across three tournament divisions to be crowned DC SCORES champions. Photo: Cody Cervenka.

On June 2, 2023, hundreds of middle schoolers gathered at the Fields at RFK to battle it out to be crowned champions in the DC SCORES Spring Cup.

DC SCORES holds the annual soccer tournament during the its spring season, and the day-long event supplements DC SCORES’ regular middle school league games, which are held weekly on Friday afternoons across the city.

Almost thirty teams from DC public and charter schools participated in the tournament in three divisions: co-ed, girls’, and boys’. The tournament, which took place over 6 hours, began with the co-ed competition and saw Inspired Teaching Public Charter School beat out 12 other squads to lift the trophy after a thrilling final against The Sojourner Truth School.

An Inspired Teaching student shows off their first place medal. Photo: Cody Cervenka.

In the girls’ division, the championships ended in a familiar match-up with BASIS DC taking on DC International School (DCI) after the two teams met in last season’s Middle School Capital Cup semi-final. BASIS repeated their feat from that game with a victory over DCI to lift the Spring Cup girls’ trophy.

BASIS DC beat DC International School to win the final, in a repeat of the teams’ semi-final match-up in last season’s Capital Cup. Photo: Cody Cervenka.

DCI had another chance at silverware in the boys’ final where they took on Ida B. Wells Middle School. The Wells Wolves — who are the reigning DCIAA boys’ soccer champions — beat their competition in an exciting final that was cheered on by a large contingent of supporters for both teams.

The Ida B. Wells boys’ team celebrated their Spring Cup win. Photo: Cody Cervenka.

Spring Cup is an opportunity for teams to play more competitively in the spring season, during which middle school leagues are run as friendlies under the DC SCORES model, and ahead of their competitive fall league season.

“As a coach and former soccer player myself, I always appreciate the grit and determination that our poet-athletes show at Spring Cup,” said Jason Gross, Senior Program Director of Soccer and Operations at DC SCORES. “You can see their desire to work hard for their team and leave everything on the field. It’s a great opportunity to build some friendly competition during our spring season. Kudos to all our players for displaying great teamwork and sportsmanship!”

Players from opposing sides greet each other after a hard-fought match. Photo: Brandon Ellis.