The auditorium at English High School in Jamaica Plain Friday night was filled with elementary school soccer teams sporting brightly colored jerseys of red, yellow and blue. But they weren’t waiting for the rain outside to stop so they could play. They were waiting to take the stage so they could recite poetry.
They took the stage in teams of 30 and sang, danced and shouted poetry to the audience of volunteers, parents and fellow students. There were poems about soccer and homework, memories and friendship, family life and teamwork.
The students 360 third, fourth and fifth graders from 12 Boston public schools participated in the New England SCORES poetry slam, the cumulative event of a season-long program combining soccer and poetry to help students develop leadership and teamwork skills.
Valerie Lawson of the Boston Poetry Slam and Alex Lamage of Positive Teen Magazine hosted the slam. Boston Breakers midfielder Sarah Dacey and Jay Heaps of the New England Revolution also welcomed students.
New England SCORES, now in its fourth year, is designed to promote positive values for students through an after-school program of three days of soccer and two days of writing. Focusing on the core values of leadership, teamwork and self-expression, the goal is to develop these through both soccer and poetry.
‘It’s a way to bring to the inner-city an after-school program that’s really meaningful to the children,’ said Allison Eisnitz, a teacher at Trotter Elementary School in Dorchester who was at the slam with her team. ‘The creative writing is such a great outlet for the children,’ she added.
Sheree Daly, a sixth grader at Roxbury Prep who was on the Trotter team last year, said lessons learned in the classroom carry over to the soccer field.
‘If people have a problem on the field, they don’t fight about it,’ she said. ‘People express their feelings and get it all out through poetry.’
‘Leadership is the most important thing to the team,’ said Winston Sanders, a fourth grader at Trotter who is doing the program for the second year in a row. ‘After people get off the team, they still come and support us on our team and help us control our anger.’
At the end of the slam, students were given awards for teamwork, leadership and commitment. Finally, the teachers and coaches from all the schools took the stage to loud applause from the students and parents in the audience.
‘Community building is really the key for the program,’ Eisnitz said afterward.
Joanna Morello, a volunteer who helped organized the slam, said she was pleased with the results.
‘The kids love it. They absolutely love it,’ she said. ‘Just from the turnout we’re getting of parents and families, I would call it a great success.’
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