Washington Spirit to play for DC SCORES in the 2020 Verizon Community Shield

Washington Spirit  |   September 22, 2020
Washington Spirit to play for DC SCORES in the 2020 Verizon Community Shield Featured Image

Jordan Small
Washingtonspirit.com 

Boyds, MD., (9/21/20) – The Washington Spirit is proud to announce that the club will be playing for DC SCORES during the Verizon Community Shield competition. The Verizon Community Shield is a partnership between the National Women’s Soccer League and Verizon, where each of the NWSL’s nine clubs will partner with small businesses or programs in their community. 

The team with the most points at the end of the Fall Series will be awarded the Verizon Community Shield. $25,000 will be awarded to the community partner of the team with the most points, with the second-place team donating $15,000 and the third-place team $10,000.

DC SCORES utilizes a unique combination of soccer, poetry, and service-learning to create neighborhood teams that give 3,000 kids in need the confidence and skills to succeed on the playing field, in the classroom, and in life. The Spirit and DC SCORES became official community partners in April of 2020. 

Spirit owner Steve Baldwin had this to say about the DC SCORES partnership: “My friend Devin Talbott introduced me to DC SCORES shortly after I joined the Spirit and I have been very fortunate to develop a great relationship with the entire DC SCORES organization. I’m proud that they are our partner for the Verizon Community Shield, and hope we deliver a couple of more wins that will also deliver a good result for DC SCORES.” 

DC SCORES Chief Executive Officer Bethany Henderson had this to say on the partnership: “We’re so grateful to the Spirit and very proud to be their official community partner. It’s so important for our young soccer players to feel connected to the broader soccer community and to have positive female role models. Thanks to the Spirit, they now have both. For the team to play the fall series on behalf of our poet-athletes is amazing, and we know there will be 3,000 new members of the Spirit Squad cheering you on from across D.C.!” 

Should the Spirit come away with any of the three Verizon Community Shield prizes, Baldwin has committed to matching the donation and distributing it equally among the teams other community partners – the Youth Leadership Foundation, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Children’s National Hospital, Comfort Cases, Kids Enjoy Exercise Now Greater DC-Baltimore, and Teens Run DC.

In 2020, the NWSL received a Small Business Administration loan, which helped continue to pay and support its world-class players as the season was put on hold. Now the NWSL is partnering with Verizon to continue to give back to those in the community of each NWSL market.

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