A World Cup Generation of Poet-Athletes

The FIFA World Cup 2026 is underway, and across the United States and Canada, SCORES poet-athletes are experiencing the tournament in their own ways — some walking onto the pitch as player escorts, others watching matches in their communities, cheering for the countries their families call home, and reflecting on it all through poetry.

Together, they are capturing this historic moment through the voices of young people across North America — thirty-two years after the FIFA World Cup helped inspire the founding of SCORES, and a new generation of poet-athletes is now part of its legacy, as fans, storytellers, leaders, and community members.

Poet-athletes are young people who are committed to their physical, emotional, and social well-being. They use their voices to express themselves, serve as leaders in their communities, and speak up against injustice. Photo: Miami SCORES

SCORES Was Born From a World Cup

In the summer of 1994, the United States hosted the FIFA World Cup for the first time. That fall, Julie Kennedy, a 21-year-old teacher and Teach for America Fellow in Washington, D.C., started an after-school soccer and poetry program for girls at Marie Reed Elementary School. Kennedy had a soccer ball, a love of poetry, and a belief that the young people in her community deserved a place to belong after school.

SCORES’ founder, Julie Kennedy, reflects on the Network’s origin story and growth as a grassroots legacy of the 1994 World Cup.

The energy of that tournament drew early supporters to her work, and the program grew alongside the World Cup's own legacy. The first grant the U.S. Soccer Foundation ever awarded — established as part of that legacy — went to DC SCORES, and so did the last, disbursed in 2017. That funding carried the program from one school in D.C. to Boston, then Chicago, and eventually to a network that today serves 15,000 young people across 13 cities in the United States and Canada, reaching students at more than 300 Title I schools.

Three decades later, the SCORES Network (formerly America SCORES) stands as one of the most successful grassroots programs to emerge from the 1994 World Cup.

New York SCORES poet-athletes join the U.S. Men's National Team on the field before an international friendly at Sports Illustrated Stadium in September 2025. Photo: U.S. Soccer Federation

Poet-Athletes Walk Onto the World Cup Pitch

Through a partnership with Quaker and Common Goal, poet-athletes from eight SCORES affiliates will participate in the Player Escort Program across more than 30 matches this summer. They were selected for their leadership, commitment, and contributions to their teams and communities. Across the network, poet-athletes are already counting down to the experience on FOX5 New York and imagining what it will be like to walk onto a World Cup pitch.

Across 104 matches in the United States and Canada, Quaker and Common Goal will bring 1,738 young people from underserved communities onto FIFA World Cup 2026™ pitches as player escorts — including more than 400 SCORES poet-athletes. In Canada, Quaker Canada has also committed a $50,000 USD grant to support Canada SCORES programming in Vancouver and Toronto, expanding access to healthy snacks, transportation, and programming hours across Vancouver and Toronto.

The walkouts begin on opening day, when poet-athletes from Toronto SCORES take the pitch as Canada opens its World Cup campaign at home. From there, SCORES poet-athletes appear across some of the tournament's biggest moments: Vancouver poet-athletes will walk out when Canada returns home to face Qatar, New York poet-athletes will take MetLife Stadium for a Round of 16 match, and Toronto, Vancouver, and Seattle poet-athletes will each appear in Round of 32 knockout games. By the tournament's final weeks, three SCORES affiliates — Boston SCORES, LA SCORES, and Miami SCORES— will have poet-athletes walking out at Quarter-Final matches, the deepest stage any of them will reach.

The eight participating affiliates are:

• United States: New York SCORES, Miami SCORES, Boston SCORES,  LA SCORES, America SCORES Bay Area, Seattle SCORES

• Canada: Canada SCORES Vancouver, Canada SCORES Toronto

SCORES affiliates in non-host cities — including DC SCORES, Milwaukee SCORES, St. Louis SCORES, Cleveland SCORES, and America SCORES Chicago — are marking the tournament through poetry, cheering for the countries their communities call home and telling their own World Cup stories.

Ahead of World Cup 2026, poet-athlete Jostin and SCORES alumna and coach Melany from America SCORES Chicago joined Telemundo Chicago to share how SCORES poet-athletes are using poetry to celebrate the world's game and tell their stories. View Telemundo Chicago segment. Photo: Telemundo Chicago

Telling the World Cup Story Through Poetry

Poet-athletes have already been writing and performing their original poems in the lead up to the World Cup. During National Poetry Month, the SCORES Network partnered with Telemundo Station Group — the exclusive Spanish-language broadcast home of FIFA World Cup 2026™ in the U.S. — to launch Atletas Poetas, a national youth poetry celebration spanning seven markets: Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Miami, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Poet-athletes wrote and performed original poems in Spanish or bilingual Spanish-English exploring themes of soccer, unity, community, and joy. National winners were celebrated at the Soccer Legacy Gala on May 8 in San Jose — an event that honored the legacy of the 1994 World Cup and the ongoing work of SCORES across North America.

Santiago from America SCORES Bay Area and Emiley from New York SCORES were named national champions of Atletas Poetas and recognized at the Soccer Legacy Gala in San Jose for their outstanding poetry performances. Photo: America SCORES Bay Area

That storytelling continues this summer. Across the network, poet-athletes will journal and write about the matches they attend and follow — about what it means to see the world's game played in their cities, and about the countries their families root for. Many come from families whose roots trace to nations competing in the tournament. The World Cup gives them a stage to celebrate those connections and tell their own stories as young people growing up across North America.

The Next Chapter of a World Cup Legacy 

The 1994 FIFA World Cup helped expand access to soccer and invest in young people long after the tournament ended. More than 30 years later, that impact continues through the SCORES Network, which serves 15,000 young people at more than 300 Title I schools across the United States and Canada.

As the World Cup returns to North America, poet-athletes are experiencing the tournament in ways that extend beyond the stands. Some will walk onto the field alongside players. Others are writing poems, following matches with their families, and reflecting on what the game means in their lives and communities. Together, they show how a World Cup's impact is carried forward by the young people it inspires.

Photo: New York SCORES