Navah Bailey
Navah Bailey
Eighteen-year-old Navah Bailey has been part of SCORES for as long as she can remember — not as a Poet-Athlete, but as Angela Bailey's daughter. Angela started working at SCORES in 2007 as a coach, and is now SCORES’ Chief Engagement Officer. Navah has spent her childhood and adolescence riding alongside her mom: filling gift bags for SCORES events till midnight, Tetris-ing soccer equipment into storage units, and helping out at the Corporate Cup and field openings. She also coached first- and second-graders during the spring and middle schoolers this summer. This fall, she heads to college at the University of Oregon, where she plans to study neuroscience. We caught her just before she left. These are lightly edited excerpts from our conversation.
One of the things that strikes me about your story is that you’ve been able to spend so much time alongside your mom, Angela, as she works behind the scenes in so many SCORES events. Take us there. What happens behind the curtain?
Every time we'd have the Corporate Cup in San Francisco at Beach Chalet, the day of the event, she and I would be driving the U-Haul in at, like, 6 am. We're tired. She went to bed at 3:00 a.m; I went to bed at like 1:00 am after a night of packing gift bags and equipment and fitting it all in the U-Haul. And to get ready, she would always blast house music or reggae—whatever she was in the mood for—to wake us up. That was our morning routine every single time we went to the Cup. You’ve got to get in the mood, get the type. That’s such a core memory for me. We got to bond through hardships, but also just by making fun out of the experience.
Your mom has been doing this work for a long time. What have you learned just from watching her?
I’ve learned how important outreach is, especially communications and meeting people. You can talk to anybody, and how you do that can become a presentation of what you represent. It’s always an opportunity.
I’ve also learned how many people come together to make things happen at SCORES. Sometimes it’s a huge amount of people, like with the SCORES gala. It was amazing how many people were involved. Other times, it’s a small group, and I can’t believe that such a small group can accomplish such a big thing, like setting up all the tents and fields for the Corporate Cup at Beach Chalet. SCORES has a really good community of people who work well together and accomplish so much, from big events down to the more routine ones.
Recently you’ve had the opportunity to coach for SCORES. What’s been your biggest takeaway from that experience?
I’ve learned about the value of patience. When you're working with kids, if you don't have enough patience, everything's going to go haywire very, very quickly. And working with kids has made me better at working with my peers–or any adults, really–which is kind of surprising, but I'm glad for it.
When you’re working with kids, you have some kids who act out. They might pretend to get hurt so they get more attention. Or they might act like they don’t want to play or care, because they think that’s cool. I learned a bit about breaking down why they’re acting this way and understanding what they really want. Because I know they want to participate – there’s just something in the way of that.
The breaking down part is the skill I see transferring to working with other people. Like, especially my peers. I have a friend — we're on a group project together — and she was feeling like she really wanted to be the one to get this certain part of the project done. And I was thinking long on it, and I realized that she was acting that way because she had a personal connection to it. So, through further consideration, I was like, okay, I'll let her do that part and give myself another part to work on separately. I definitely saw how we never really grow out of that — where certain things cause our certain actions or decisions. So that lesson in patience and understanding transferred really well.
As a coach, you were working with SCORES’ Justin Calderon, who not only coaches but also captures video for the organization. (Shout out to Justin!) What did you learn in observing him on the job?
Justin is a great coach for all ages. I was really impressed. All the kids love him. I think he's been coaching since he was 16, so he's definitely had a lot of experience. When it comes to little kids, he really knows how to grab their attention and their understanding. He taught me some tricks, little tips to get their attention and games where they won't get distracted. Like, one of their favorite things was when he would say, “Six!” and they would respond, “Seven!” It was a very small thing, but it got the kids really engaged and trusting, because he was speaking their language a bit.
With middle schoolers, there's a line between being their friends and being their coach. It's a very fine line. And he walked it very well. There was one time when the kids were just not listening at all. We were on the fields, and they were not paying attention. Then we went to the gym. They still weren't paying attention and just started goofing around. So we took them outside again. They sat there for a few minutes in silence. Then he said, “What should we do?” and paused. I thought, maybe we could make them run? But instead, he very quickly came up with a competition, something they’d really engage in. It was a push-up competition. The first person to drop had to run. The kids were in and were being active, so that was good! Then, when a kid dropped and had to run, they all started running together. It was very sweet and ended up being an engaging and supportive experience for everybody.
One of the core elements of SCORES is the value and power of community. At its core, that’s what this Five Questions series is really about – the breadth and variety and strength of the broader SCORES community. In your experience helping out with SCORES, where have you witnessed community building?
Last spring, I was helping out at a booth at the opening of a new turf field at Harvey Milk Elementary in San Francisco. To get the chance to spin the wheel for a prize, the kids had to write what community meant to them. I remember seeing all these little kids come up. One kid didn’t really know what to do, and then another kid came up and said, “This is what I drew– me and my friend.” And he drew a heart around the two of them. Then another kid showed what he had written, and another one did too. It was a really sweet sight to see and a perfect example of community.
To read more Five Questions With conversations, go here!
Photos above from L-R:
Navah in Oakland, where her mom, Angela Bailey, started as a SCORES coach.
Navah and fellow SCORES family child, Mateen, son of SCORES’ Victoria Muhammad (who was with SCORES in the early days.)
Navah at the Corporate Cup
Angela and Navah Bailey at the Corporate Cup
SCORES’ San Rafael team at a World Cup game.