Coaches Shay and Shanice Blanchard Serve Their Hometown Through DC SCORES

Shay and Shanice Blanchard are proud Barnard Bears. 

The term refers to members of the school community at Barnard Elementary in Petworth, where the sisters teach and coach DC SCORES. Shay and Shanice’s connection to Barnard is lifelong: they attended the school themselves as youngsters.

During the day, Shanice teaches kindergarten and Shay physical education, but every evening of the DC SCORES season, the pair come together to lead the nonprofit’s after-school soccer, poetry, and service-learning program. 

“I love the family that we created at DC SCORES,” says Shay. “Not just our school, but everyone in DC SCORES is like one big family.”

An Extended Family

“For us, family is everything,” says Shanice. She and Shay spend most of their free time with their parents and siblings. “If one person’s doing something, that means all of us are doing something!” says Shay. 

When Shay and Shanice were growing up, they were known as the “soccer sisters.” The two inherited their love of the game from their father at a time when soccer was still a relatively niche sport in the United States, and pay-to-play clubs often left out the communities of color representing the majority of their neighborhood. As a result, Shay and Shanice didn’t know any other kids nearby who played the sport. 

With few other opportunities to play, the Blanchards started their own team. Shay and Shanice’s dad served as the coach, and their mom as the manager. Their family even bought a van to drive members of the team to practices and games. 

“We were able to witness firsthand everything that [our parents] were doing to create families throughout the community,” says Shanice. “They instilled in us that whatever you do, make sure you’re fully doing it, you’re 100% dedicated, you’re committed, you’re creating the family that you want.”

Today, the whole Blanchard family still rolls up to games in their van; Shay and Shanice’s parents are regulars at DC SCORES gamedays. The difference? This time, the kids they’re cheering on are playing at no cost to their families or their schools.

“DC SCORES has opened so many doors for them that we never would have imagined,” says Shanice. “To actually have a free program [that] will help you improve your skills and allow you to express yourself.”

Building an Inclusive Team

DC SCORES is having an impact beyond the soccer field, too. The Barnard Bears are reliably one of the strongest teams who perform in the nonprofit’s annual slams. 

The coaches say poetry provides a unique opportunity for kids to gain confidence while improving their literacy skills. Shanice is particularly proud of one DC SCORES poet-athlete who she has known since kindergarten. A shy kid who struggled with writing, the girl joined Barnard’s Junior SCORES program in the first grade. 

“Now, she’s constantly writing poems,” says Shanice. “Mom says it’s a fight trying to get her to turn off the light at night time to go to bed!”

“She’s completely come out of her shell, and I think a lot of it has to do with DC SCORES,” she adds. “Motivating her and giving her a place to feel like she’s welcome. She can be who she is without any judgment.”

The program welcomes everyone, including kids enrolled in Barnard’s Flagship Autism Program. Though these students spend at least part of the school day learning in dedicated Communication & Education Support classrooms, at DC SCORES, kids inside and outside of the program play together. “It’s giving them that opportunity to be part of the bigger group,” says Shanice. 

“The Future of D.C.”

This community ethos also extends beyond Barnard’s doors. One of Shay and Shanice’s favorite parts of the program is spring service learning when poet-athletes design community service projects based on their fall poems. 

“Their ideas are through the roof,” says Shay. “They want to give back, and a lot of them don’t have much. They’re still looking to give even what they don’t have.”

The values that DC SCORES instill in young people give hope to Shay and Shanice, two native Washingtonians invested in their city’s future. “There’s a lot going on in D.C., specifically, and in the world,” says Shanice. “DC SCORES helps them to share what’s going on around them, to take a stand, to be themselves.”

DC SCORES has operated in the District since 1994, growing from a team at a single school into an international network serving 25,000 kids in 13 cities across North America. But the organization has never forgotten its D.C. roots. 

This year, to celebrate its 30th anniversary, DC SCORES launched Poet-Athlete City, a long-term vision to establish a program in every Title 1 elementary and middle school in D.C. by 2030. 

This long-term investment in youth is exactly what the city needs, say Shay and Shanice.  “It will provide kids with a positive outlet that they’re able to express themselves, release all that energy, and do great things with it,” explains Shay.

“It will create great leaders of tomorrow,” Shanice adds. “They’re the future of D.C.”