PPL Championship!

Palms Premier League's championship game was held Tuesday at Palms Middle School. Germany, the first place team, took on Roma, a team comprised solely of sixth graders, to see which team's name would be the first engraved into the PPL trophy. It was a hard-fought game on both sides. Germany took an early 3-0 lead. Roma fought back, and in the last ten minutes of the game were able to score the tying goal, sending the teams to the goal for penalty kicks. Both teams had some great shots and saves, but in the end Germany triumphed with three goals over Roma's one.


Earlier that day, Mexico played Stuttgart for third place while Chelsea played Arsenal for fifth place. Both games went to penalty kicks as well, with Mexico taking third and Arsenal fifth.


We were impressed with everyone's dedication and enthusiasm in the tournament, and cannot wait to start it up again!

Germany - First Place

Roma - Second Place

Mexico - Third Place

Palms Premier League Begins for Middle School

This week marks the first day of the Palms Premier League at Palms Middle School. America SCORES LA and Team Prime Time, an after school program that brings sports, arts, and homework help to Title 1 middle schools in Los Angeles, teamed up to create this six-team, month-long tournament. Every Tuesday and Thursday for the next four weeks, each team gets to play two games. Refs from ASLA and TPT keep track of the score and player stats so that the teams will know the standings before every game. Teams are a mixture of boys and girls 6-8th grade.

The players were excited to take what they've learned in practice and put it to the test in a competitive league. Scroll down to see pictures of them in action!

Old Faces in New Roles

Last month, SCORES programming officially started at all four schools, and with that came Game Day. Every Friday, SCORES students from the three elementary schools meet at the park to play organized soccer games against each other. It has been exciting for us to see the kids putting the skills they learn each day to the test.

Game Day has become a community event, from parents and family members coming to watch games to SCORES alumni coming to visit their old coaches and cheer on new players. One of the highlights of Game Day has been seeing Middle School and High School alumni in attendance taking on the meaningful role of assistant coaches and referees -- illustrating that their involvement in SCORES Game Day doesn't have to end when they finish elementary school.

Alumni Coach Middle School Camp

Down the street from the Elementary Summer Camp, middle school and high school students are participating in a different camp. Every Wednesday during the month of July, a group of ten LA SCORES alumni meet at the middle school field to coach the middle school players.

Earlier in the summer, the alumni attended a special training put on by Team Up For Youth -- an organization that recruits and trains volunteer coaches in California -- to learn basic drills, fun games, and techniques for coaching younger kids. This month they've been able to take what they learn and put it into action at Palms Middle School. At practice, groups of two or three alumni each organize a drill at a station -- shooting, passing, dribbling, defense, etc. -- then they divide the middle schoolers up into small groups and have them rotate through the stations. After each group completes all of the drills, they scrimmage together.

As coaches, the alumni are showing the middle schoolers that LA SCORES doesn't end when you graduate 5th or 8th grade. Those who are interested can still be a part of the program through volunteer coaching or even just coming out to play soccer with old friends. It is our hope that this will start a new tradition where the current middle schoolers come back with their friends as high schoolers every summer to help teach new 6th graders soccer skills and the value of community.

Middle School Tours Video Game Studio

Last week LA SCORES enjoyed the week off for Spring Break. Students from Palms Middle School kicked off their vacation on Monday with EA LA Day, a field trip to Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts is an international video game company located nearby that produces well-known games such as FIFA, Medal of Honor, the Sims, and Rockband for systems like Playstation, PC, Wii, and now the iPad . They were kind enough to host our students and teach them a bit about what it's like to create video games for a living.

The day started out with the students playing soccer on the field at EA with some of the employees. The group was split into four teams --girls and boys mixed -- and played a friendly but competitive round robin with each game lasting 10 minutes. In between games, students shot baskets on the basketball court next to the field or hung out in the shade to watch their friends play.

After the tournament, the students went inside for a tour of the studio. They got to walk around the office and see EA employees working at their desks on new games. Then the students got to go in to the EA store and choose one free game each as a gift from EA. After that there was a little bit of free time for the students to play video games on various systems like XBox 360 and Wii or hang out in the arcade room for old classics like pinball, Pacman, and Foosball.

EA staff concluded the day by showing the students a demonstration of a video game that has not yet been released, and then allowing them to ask questions about the industry and what kind of work goes into making a video game.

LA SCORES would like to thank EA and Aaron Kaufman for organizing this event and giving students such a wonderful opportunity!