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Arsenal stars visit DC SCORES summer camp

Our players spent time at Truesdell Education Campus to join children on the DC SCORES summer camp on Monday.

The visit came as part of the team’s time in Washington D.C. ahead of their clash against Real Madrid at the FedEx Field on Tuesday. 

Similar to the work of our community team in north London, DC SCORES creates programmes that give young people in need the confidence and skills to succeed on the playing field, in the classroom, and in life. The organisation delivers free after-school initiatives and summer camps facilitated by trained youth development professionals.  

The project integrates soccer, poetry, and service-learning to help children from low-income families throughout the district build physical fitness, find their voice, improve their literacy, increase school engagement, and strengthen ties to their community.

Our players joined children in football training and in an incredible dance off which saw Dominic Thompson and Zech Medley face off to the delight of the children taking part. 

The visit forms an important part of our time in the US to understand the community here and meet supporters of the club and the game and to appreciate the work of the local coaches who make such a difference to the life of their local community.  

Legendary Coach Robinson from the programme gave players a welcome to the session and reminded of them of their role and to be child-like and immerse themselves in the session, the players did just that and were privileged to have made the visit.

Nacho Monreal said: “It was really great to come here today, to meet these young fans.  Arsenal is such a huge club with a global following and it’s a privilege we have to contribute to communities across the world and give back.  

"It’s great for our younger players too to understand what they can do and what they can give back. We all had a lot of fun today.” 

DC SCORES CEO Bethany Rubin Henderson said, "Our kids, coaches and staff were all honored and overjoyed that Arsenal came to visit us, for such a big club to spend time in our city and with our kids means so much. It was inspirational, impactful and, most of all, really fun. We're so appreciative of their time and enthusiasm and I know the club made many new fans today!"

This year, DC SCORES is providing year-round programming for over 3,000 kids at 69 sites across the nation's capital. DC SCORES has served more than 25,000 low-income DC children since 1994 and is the flagship affiliate of America SCORES, with programmes in 12 cities serving more than 15,000 at-risk youth annually.