Bay Area SCORES

Bay Area SCORES, a subset of America SCORES, is a community-based intervention program that focuses upon promoting physical activity and academic improvement in minority children in the San Francisco, Richmond, and San Pablo school districts. The program aims to enhance academic performance, reduce obesity, increase physical fitness, and eliminate cardiovascular health-related risks in children between the ages of 6 and 12. The primary athletic component of the SCORES program revolves around competitive soccer playing and skill sessions. This promotes team building, boasts self-confidence, and increases the ability to form meaningful relationships. While the athletic portion of the program is prominent, an academic approach is also used. Scholastic tools, like creative writing programs, outlets for self-expression, and service learning are incorporated. By intertwining an athletic approach, a focus upon community service, and the integral component of standard academic programming, an environment is created that strives to empower urban youth, create confident and engaged students, and facilitate positive agents of change within the community.

The target populations in the Bay Area SCORES program are children in the 1st through 5th grade in San Francisco, Richmond and San Pablo school districts. The essential components of the program include soccer, creative expression through the power of poetry, service learning, and “hip-hop for health.” These components provide an all-inclusive curriculum that teaches the myriad skills necessary to live a well-rounded and healthy lifestyle.

The goal of the Bay Area SCORES program is to reduce obesity, increase physical fitness, and manage cardiovascular health-related risks while improving academic performance in children between the ages of 6 and 12 through soccer, creative expression, service learning, “hip hop for health,” and creative writing.

The program’s pilot year, 2001, began with 150 adolescent children in five San Francisco Schools. Currently there are 1,000 youths enrolled in 25 various schools in the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Richmond school districts.