2010 Fall Season Begins!

Registration packets are being collected, practices are starting, coaches are planning and students are preparing for yet another great season of America SCORES Denver. The season started for a few schools last Wednesday, September 8th and things are running smoothly.

This fall SCORES will be adding Gust Elementary and CMSCMS Elementary schools. The addition of these schools will expand the program to 20 teams-10 girls and 10 boys.

Some exciting events for this fall include:

September 24th: First Game Day
October 2nd: Fall Frenzy @ Regis University
November 17th: SCORES Poetry Slam (location to be determined)

Fall Game Schedule:

Week 1: Sept. 24, 2010
Cheltenham @ Munroe
CMS @ Cowell
Newlon @Brown
Knapp @ Eagleton
Gust @ Barnum

Week 2: October 1, 2010
Cowell @ Newlon
Eagleton @ CMS
Munroe @ Barnum
Cheltenham @ Brown
Knapp @ Gust

Week 3: October 8, 2010
Munroe @ Cowell
CMS @ Knapp
Barnum @ Cheltenham
Brown @ Eagleton
Newlon @ Gust

Week 4: October 15, 2010
Newlon @ Eagleton
Gust @ Munroe
Cowell @ Barnum
Knapp @ Brown
Cheltenham @ CMS

Week 5: October 22, 2010
Cowell @ Cheltenham
Brown @ CMS
Munroe @ Newlon
Barnum @ Knapp
Eagleton @ Gust

Week 6: November 5, 2010
Eagleton @ Cheltenham
Brown @ Cowell
Barnum @ Newlon
Munroe @ Knapp
CMS @ Gust

Week 7: November 12, 2010
Make-up Games

Copa de Kids 2010

In honor of the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa this June, America SCORES Denver is partnering with the Colorado Fusion Soccer Club for the inaugural "Copa de Kids." On June 12th, 2010, SCORES and the Fusion will be co-hosting a full day youth soccer festival at Bill Roberts School.

Admission is $10 per person, or $45 for a block of five. CLICK HERE to get your entry tickets today. Please contact Brandon Blew at bblew@americascores.org with any questions. There are limited number of spaces available. Reserve your spot today!

WHO: America SCORES Denver and the Colorado Fusion Soccer Club (all proceeds will directly benefit these two organizations).

WHAT: A full day youth soccer festival. The day will consist of a goal scoring skills clinic, viewing of the U.S. vs England game, pick up soccer, and a player appreciation drawing with fantastic prizes.

WHEN: Saturday June 12th, 2010
             9:00 am - 3:00 pm

WHERE: Bill Roberts School (Stapleton)
             2100 Akron Way
             Denver, CO 80238

Jamboree 2010 Highlights

Last Friday our 2010 Jamboree was held at Dick's Sporting Good's Park.  In recognition of the 2010 FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa, the theme of this years Jamboree was "World Cup".  Each team was assigned a different country to represent at the games, and in World Cup tradition, captains exchanged the flags of their country at the start of each match.  One of our spectators, Randy Strong from iVB Network, was kind enough to capture a video of the night.  I invite you to take a minute and check it out.

Students at Brown Visit the Franciscan Sisters Home

On Monday, May 17, students from Brown Elementary took a moment out of their busy schedules to pay a visit to the nearby Franciscan Sisters home for the elderly. Guided by their enthusiastic writing coaches Greg Toston and Amanda Swift, Brown's poet athletes decided they would give back to their community by raising money in order to purchase small pots and plants, inscribe their poetry on the pots, and personally deliver these wonderful gifts to tenants of the Franciscan Sisters home.

In a truly memorable afternoon, the students walked their poem-plants to the home and arrived just in time for dinner! For nearly 45 minutes they visited with about 30 members of the community, reading their poems, discussing their participation in SCORES and simply spreading joy! The energy in the room was contagious.

We are so proud of the students at Brown for coming up with this idea and putting it into action. Thanks to the Franciscan Sisters home for being such gracious hosts!

Graffiti Education at Cowell Elementary

On Tuesday, May 11 the Poet Athletes at Cowell Elementary school had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the graffiti problem facing their neighborhood. Donna from Denver Partners Against Graffiti came by the school to give a presentation about graffiti in Denver, and discuss with the students what they can do to spread awareness and clean things up! We learned some interesting facts about graffiti:

• The city of Denver alone spends over $1 million in graffiti clean up each year
• We are all forced to pay for the graffiti problem because it comes out of our taxes
• There is a difference between graffiti-vandalism and graffiti-art:
• Vandalism is graffiti that takes place without permission and is illegal.
• If you call 311, the Denver Information hotline, you can receive an application form and request a graffiti clean up crew to come out and remove graffiti from your home or property free of charge.

Thanks Donna for stopping by Cowell, and thanks to the Denver Partners Against Graffiti for all your hard work in keeping our neighborhoods clean!

 Donna from Denver Partners Against Graffiti answering questions at Cowell Elementary

Newlon Helps Their Community

On Monday, May 4 the Boys and Girls Teams at Newlon Elementary spent the afternoon cleaning up their school as part of the Writing for the Community service project. With coaches Luis Munoz and Emily Fenske leading the charge, the students spent over an hour filling trash bags with all sorts of nasty stuff they found on the grass, on the playground, and even hidden in some of the bushes surrounding the school. The students' energy and efforts in cleaning up the school were truly amazing, and the grounds surrounding Newlon are certainly new and improved.

The students also plan on contributing to a local community garden by helping till the soil, put down seeds, and paint a fence!

Great work Newlon, thanks for all your efforts! And welcome back Coach Luis Munoz, you were certainly missed.

Let the Games Begin!

Sadly, the snow day that closed school the Wednesday before spring break also cancelled opening day for the Spring Season. So, in our opinion it was not worth it to play our first scheduled game.

The teams regrouped after spring break, however, and the last 2 Fridays we have seen some great soccer, big crowds and a festival atmosphere at each host school. Here are some great action shots from the first two weeks - thanks to all the coaches for sending these in!

This coming Friday, April 23 marks week 3 of the season, and we've got some very big games on tap:

Barnum @ Newlon
Munroe @ Knapp
Eagleton @ Cheltenham
Cowell @ Brown

In addition, both the boys and girls Select Team seasons are well underway, and we are playing so well! The girls had their best game of the season this past Friday in Highlands Ranch, losing a close game to Real Colorado, last year's league champions. All the girls on the team played great, and our opponents even named second half goalie Ruby Cortez the game's MVP for all the great stops she made. Way to go girls!

The boys played a bigger, older Boulder Force team. We worked so hard from start to finish on a field that seemed like it was a mile long, and every one of our players should be proud of his performance. It's not easy playing against 7th graders, and it's obvious that all the hard work in practice is paying off on the weekends.