CBS News Highlights San Rafael Poet-Athlete Giselle

CBS News featured the story of SCORES Poet-Athlete Giselle Avelar, a San Rafael fourth grader who walked out onto the global stage alongside Australia’s national team ahead of their FIFA World Cup match against Paraguay on June 25, 2026. Giselle and a select group of fellow SCORES Poet-Athletes earned the opportunity through the Quaker Player Escort Program, hosted in partnership with Quaker and Common Goal. The program gives 1400 young people from underserved communities the chance to walk out onto the pitch during the 2026 World Cup games.

Giselle’s family is originally from El Salvador, and her father, Oscar, has been a die-hard fan since he was a young child. Seeing his daughter live a dream moved him deeply. “My kid walking on that field is the greatest experience,” he said.

SCORES Executive Director Colin Schmidt founded America SCORES Bay Area a quarter century ago. “After the ‘94 World Cup, we had five schools and 150 kids. Flash forward to today, and in the Bay Area, we’re at 180 schools with about 7000 kids. We could fill a stadium with the people that we’ve touched—the kids, the families, the coaches.”

For Bay Area kids in underserved communities, SCORES delivers something rare: free soccer programming woven together with poetry and student-led service learning projects—no cost, no barriers. For comparison, many Bay Area youth club teams charge around $ 3,000 per player per year, with additional costs building from there.