SCORES Alum Returns to Coach at School Where He First Became a Poet-Athlete
- Jul 8
- 1 min read
Jayden Blevins says he was not the most assertive child at Robinson G. Jones School, even when he was playing his favorite sport with friends in the Cleveland SCORES afterschool program.
“I struggled with self-confidence,” he says. “I wasn’t the greatest at soccer – I just loved playing soccer.”
He received a boost from his SCORES coach, who would pull him aside whenever he got down on himself. “I learned it is not always about winning – it is about being the best you can be,” he says.
That advice resonated – so much so that Jayden became a SCORES soccer coach in the 2025-2026 academic year at the same school he attended as a child, instructing about 30 students.
A 2021 graduate of Cleveland’s New Tech West High School, Jayden told his principal if the school ever brought back the SCORES program he would be interested in coaching. “Once I was introduced to SCORES, I fell in love with how it helps students grow not only as individuals but as part of a team,” Jayden says. “With soccer you have exercise, with poetry you have literacy and with service learning you understand how to help your community.”
Jayden, now a husband and father of two girls, ages 4 and 2, never forgot the lesson he learned from his soccer coach when he was young.
“If one person is down,” he says, “our goal is to see what we can do to help you.”
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