Board Member Highlight - Claude Harriott

Claude Harriott joined the CRYSP DC Board of Directors in June 2020 after he was drawn to CRYSP by the way the organization is centered around the community.

“Growing up, I was always thinking, ‘How can I give back? How can I get involved?’,” Claude says. It’s just the way it was growing up in his family, the youngest of 4 boys, son to a preacher and community leader and a mother who recently retired after teaching for 51 years. Two of his older brothers are both coaches in south Florida and the third is a missionary leader in Asia and Africa. Claude was born in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, and then moved to Belle Glade, Florida when he was 6.

A former NFL defensive end, Claude was selected in the 2004 Draft in the fifth round to Chicago. He also played for the New York , Detroit , Kansas City and the Toronto Argonauts. His professional football career spanned 9 years and 4 different countries.

That spirit of giving back started with the nonprofit Glades Youth Connection, which Claude’s father founded in Belle Glade, Florida, more than 30 years ago. The faith/spiritual-based program aims to provide opportunity to youth to help them thrive educationally and athletically. Striving to broaden the organization’s outreach, Claude, started a chapter in Washington, D.C. in early 2021. The organization has organized more than 50 food and coat giveaways in the District since then.

More recently, Claude and two other former NFL athletes co-founded the nonprofit Quest-Act, which creates and strengthens student-athletes' relationships with the community. Collegiate and professional athletes use their platforms to help youth “choose to win” every day by providing mentorship, opportunity for creative thinking, and guidance on and off the field. Quest-Act awarded its first college scholarship in May 2021.

Claude recently launched his own State Farm insurance agency in the Navy Yard, near Nationals Park.

Claude is now Vice President of the CRYSP board of directors. He lives near Barracks Row on Capitol Hill with his wife Rachel, their two daughters, and a bearded Dragon. Claude loves spending time with his family doing outdoor activities, such as biking and playing a game of competitive kickball. Inside, he creates time to watch cartoons, like X-Men and Transformers, and reads the Bible. His favorite local food spot is Jerk Pit and he savors food from the catering company Dat Southern Boy.

Spring Youth Sports for All

This spring, CRYSP is again partnering with great local sports organizations. We're excited to help more local youth enroll in high-quality sports programs.

Thanks to our partners, including the generosity of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation and its individual donors, there is little or no cost to families to enroll. When needed, CRYSP can help with shoes or other necessary equipment.

We’ll do everything we can to register every child in the program they want.

If you or someone you know is looking for support in sending a child to a spring sports program, please fill out this form — one per child — as soon as possible and our staff will follow to answer questions, find the right match and enroll your child.

Thanks so much to our sports partners, their coaches and donors who provide the scholarships that make this critical program possible!

⚾ Capitol Hill Little League*

⚾ Baseball | girls & boys ages 5-14 | 90 min practice between 6-9 pm one or two nights a week & games on Saturday

🥎 Softball | girls ages 6-14 | 90 min practice between 6-9 pm one or two nights a week & games on Saturday or Sunday

🚸Challenger League | any child with special needs | Sundays 8-10 am at The Fields

⚽ DC Way Academy

🏫 After-school soccer clinics | girls & boys, ages 4-8, weekday + weekend programs available

🚙 Travel soccer | girls & boys, ages 8-13 | 90 min practice 2 nights/week & games on Saturdays and Sundays

🏈 Flagstar Football Flag football | girls & boys, grades K through 10 | 90 min weekday practice plus games on Sundays at RFK Campus

⚽ Sports on the Hill (SOTH) Local soccer league | girls & boys, ages 5-17 | 90 min practice one or two nights/week & games on Saturdays

🏉 Washington Youth Rugby Touch rugby | girls & boys, ages 5-18 | practices Tuesdays, Thursdays & Sundays

⚽🏅 Washington Capital United (WCU) Highly competitive travel soccer | girls & boys U7 to U19 (requires tryout) | extensive practice and game schedule

*child must be a Capitol Hill resident or attend a Capitol Hill school (Capitol Hill Little League only)

Reimagining Anacostia Park

In response to the call by the National Park Service for public comment as they begin to develop a vision and goals for the future of a portion of Anacostia Park on the east side of the Anacostia River, CRYSP DC Board President Michael Godec submitted the following written statement.

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Reimagine Anacostia Park Planning Effort

Michael Godec, President, CRYSP DC
on behalf of the CRYSP DC Board of Directors

August 15, 2021

Thank you for the opportunity to submit this statement in response to the National Park Service (NPS) Reimagine Anacostia Park Planning Effort.

I am President of CRYSP DC, and a parent of two children who have extensively used Anacostia Park for over 20 years. I have been a resident of Ward 6 in the District of Columbia since 1985. Formerly Capitol Riverside Youth Sports Park, the mission of CRYSP DC is to advocate for sports and recreation space and opportunities to bridge communities, especially for underserved youth - “making space to play” is our tagline. We focus on encouraging connections between residents of Capitol Hill and Wards 5, 7 and 8, making the benefits available to as many residents as possible. Anacostia Park provides an excellent opportunity to encourage such connections.

CRYSP DC began as a neighborhood-inspired vision for playing fields, walking/biking trails, an outdoor farmer’s market pavilion, river access and other amenities in the north lots of the RFK Stadium campus. This vision addressed a key lack of field space for youth and adult sports programs in the nearby neighborhood. Based largely on our advocacy, The Fields at RFK Campus opened in May 2019. CRYSP DC made a bid to be the field operator and was awarded the contract. We have expanded our advocacy efforts, partnering with nearby youth organizations to increase accessibility to high quality organized sports for underserved youth, and providing input on the NPS Kenilworth Park North project and an open space component of the Hill East II revitalization project. We believe we can provide valuable experience and expertise to the “Reimagine Anacostia Park” effort.

I commend the NPS on the rigorous analyses and thoughtfulness that is evident in the “Reimagine Anacostia Park” initiative. There is arguably no other space like Anacostia Park in DC. We know that the NPS must address many challenging issues in trying to manage the future of Anacostia Park, and to balance the variety of visitor experiences to maximize the value of each and to minimize conflicts. One of the most important needs is to provide undisturbed green space in DC, something that is clearly lacking, and something that I appreciate as a resident hiker, biker, nature enthusiast and conservationist.

However, the focus of this initiative is on the stretch of the park from the 11th Street Bridge to the CSX railroad bridge just north of the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge, and this stretch has traditionally been devoted primarily to sports, recreation, and community activities.

We believe that those activities should continue, and that NPS should maximize, to the extent possible, space for organized and unorganized sports and recreation activities at the site. These activities are vitally important to the health and well-being of residents and the community.

A 2014 DC Department of Parks and Recreation vision statement noted that the DC metropolitan area is one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the country. It stated that from 2010 and 2020, DC was expected to gain 114,390 people—not including the growth in the surrounding suburbs. Since 2000, the population of DC has grown steadily. And one of the fasting growing segments of the population in DC is young children, especially under five years old, with the number of children in DC was expected to grow by over 40,000 by 2020.

Citywide, participation in sports programs and leagues has steadily expanded over the last decade, and, as one of the successes of our city, can only be expected to grow more in the future. The number of DC children engaging in organized sports has exploded over the past decade, with the associated need for athletic fields that can accommodate the surging demand.

In the neighborhoods near Anacostia Park, growth in youth participation in sports activities has been even more significant. For example, the number of teams playing baseball with Capitol Hill Little League (has grown from 120 players in 2011 to more than 550 baseball and softball players in the spring of 2021, making up 54 teams. The number of travel soccer teams grew from three teams to 22 teams in just its first six years, reaching almost 400 kids; now over 30 teams are participating in travel soccer in the area. Even with long-established Sports on the Hill established in 1980, the number of kids participating in its programs has tripled since 2005.

The lack of sufficient sports facilities in DC, while becoming more acute, is not new. In 2010, the CapitalSpace initiative, a partnership of the National Capital Planning Commission, NPS, and DC government, identified a lack of fields, recreational facilities, and open space in the Northeast quadrant of the city, leading to its recommendation, among other things, that DC “…develop multi-use sports complexes that can accommodate a range of sports uses, but also include new athletic fields.”

However, the accessible facilities in Anacostia Park should serve more than just organized sports programs. In the two years that CRYSP DC has served as the daily operator of The Fields at RFK, we have observed that two populations are critically underserved in DC: seniors and kids not participating in organized activities. The “Reimagine Anacostia Park” initiative clearly needs to also focus on these underserved constituencies.

In 2020, CRYSP DC conducted a survey to solicit input on needed recreation spaces in DC – with the focus on eastern DC. When asked what additional youth outdoor recreation spaces are most needed in our area, the top responses were a spray ground/water feature (56%) and a parkour/ropes course/zipline (54%). Both would increase options for youth over 10-years old to play without needing to enroll in an organized sport.

Similarly, when asked what additional adult outdoor recreation spaces most are needed in our area, the top responses were disc golf (55%) and pickleball (over 30%). Both options would increase the accessibility of the park for seniors.

We support comments and suggestions submitted by Capitol Hill Village on ways to “Reimagine Anacostia Park” to support older adults, especially their recreation-related recommendations, such as:

• An indoor walking track and exercise area that can provide options for exercise in extreme heat or cold.

• An outdoor shelter and exercise equipment designed specifically for seniors and people with disabilities located near a parking area. This area could include a paved outdoor walking loop and exercise equipment appropriate for seniors.

• Improved safety and enjoyment by providing a separate walking trail independent of the bicycle path, with benches as regular intervals.

• Pickle Ball courts.

• A disc golf course.

• An indoor swimming pool that can support water aerobics classes.

• A well-maintained the boat launching ramp for canoes and kayaks; with a vendor renting canoes and kayaks.

• Maintain the Anacostia Pavilion roller rink; it is a special gathering spot for DC residents.

We also support Capitol Hill Village’s other recommendations to improve accessibility to the park’s amenities, including improving city transportation services to better provide park access by means other than automobile.

In addition, we would like to see existing structures rehabilitated and new structures added, to round out a robust experience worthy of the neighborhood’s and city’s residents. These should include:

• Relocating the NACE headquarters to the north end of the park, close to the parking lots

• Adding a facility to support boating near the boat launch on the north end of the park

• Improving, expanding, and better maintaining the bike trails to and through the park.

We strongly urge the NPS to maximize, to the extent practical, the amount of space made available for sports and recreation and community activities, for stakeholders of all ages.

Today, there are simply not enough available and accessible outdoor athletic facilities in DC to accommodate growing demand for sports and recreational activities for stakeholders of all ages. At The Fields at RFK, within a year after opening, we received 2.5 times as many requests as we had field space to allocate during peak hours. Maximizing, to the extent practical, the amount of space made available for sports and recreation and community activities in Anacostia Park provides a great opportunity for helping meet this dire need DC for all ages and stakeholders.

Thank you again for the opportunity to provide this statement. And we sincerely hope that NPS will continue to include CRYSP DC in its deliberations and planning efforts in to “Reimagine Anacostia Park.”

Michael Godec
President
CRYSP DC

Think outside the box & in the pavilion

CRYSP DC and The Fields at RFK Campus aim to keep the community connected with opportunities to play. And you do not have to be an athlete to join in on the fun. Think about booking the Celebration Pavilion for all kinds of uses, from work meetings to yoga classes, birthday and holiday parties, dance lessons, photo shoots, arts and crafts workshops and more. The possibilities for creative use of this space are endless. The @DCYOP even rehearsed there!

The area is big enough for 30 to 100 people, depending on activity. The space can be rented for $25/half hour or $50/hour. We can provide tables and charges at an additional charge. There is electricity, public wifi, sanitizer, and indoor restrooms. Worried about parking? Don’t be, we have free lot parking! Don’t drive? No problem, there is metro access via the Stadium-Armory stop.

To rent the Celebration Pavilion, submit a request at least two weeks in advance. If you have questions about the form or renting process, please reach out to our Permit Referee, Rhiannon, by email: admin@cryspdc.org.

We are here to support the community: events with a community benefit can apply for a fee waiver when submitting your permit request. To further your great cause, We may be able to assist by cross-promoting activities.

This past year has been tough, let’s celebrate by meeting with family and friends in a safe, outdoors, and socially distant environment!

Let the Games Begin! Again.

It’s time to get out and play a game! Yes, a game, not just drills. Most Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, May 21. This includes restrictions for sporting facilities like The Fields at RFK. We are excited to offer the sports we’ve all been waiting to play since the pandemic started: soccer, flag football, frisbee, baseball and softball, lacrosse, and field hockey. On June 11, we expect to allow contact football and rugby, too.

All guidance and rules are subject to change based on DC public health guidelines and orders from the Mayor’s Office. Check the RFK Fields #playitsafe page frequently and watch for additional email updates.

We look forward to seeing everyone back on the fields!

It's time to allow outdoor sports games

(May 11, 2021) The following email was sent to members of the Council of the District of Columbia before the May 10 announcement of revisions to COVID restrictions. It is our hope that when the details come out, outdoor sports games, such as soccer and lacrosse, will be allowed.

To whom it may concern:

On behalf of the Board of Directors of CRYSP DC, I would like to take this opportunity to express our frustration and confusion about current policies affecting the use of outdoor sports and recreational facilities in the District of Columbia.

DC-based youth and adult sports organizations like CRYSP DC serve well over 100,000 youth and adult residents in DC, all of whom rely on such organizations for healthy, organized access to community sports and recreational opportunities. However, 14 months into the pandemic, too many of our organizations are still unable to offer full outdoor sports programs in the District.

As Mayor Bowser’s office has continued to re-open DC, there is a stark disconnect between where restrictions have been lifted and where they have not. Capacities for indoor facilities, where virus transmission is known to be higher (such as gymnasiums, entertainment venues, churches, bars, and restaurants), have been increased, yet there is continued prohibition on outdoor sports designated as “high-contact,” where virus transmission is incredibly rare.

We fail to see the rationale for the continued prohibition on outdoor “high-contact” sports, especially considering high vaccination rates and low-case rates locally; metrics which currently guide much public health decision making,

These continued restrictions significantly and negatively impact D.C.’s residents, especially DC youth. The District remains the only jurisdiction in the Mid-Atlantic region which continues to prohibit outdoor high-contact sports. Nationally, all other major cities are either allowing for games or have announced plans to do so.

Under current guidelines, D.C.-based teams and individuals are forced to make a choice for lack of a safer option: travel to Maryland and Virginia for organized play, taking sports dollars out of the District while increasing cross-community transmission risk, or engage in informal pick-up games and practices on overcrowded fields, a necessary and essential way for people to play sports, but one that is difficult to regulate and violates the Mayor’s current regulations.

Considering encouraging recent announcements by the CDC, which indicate that virtually all outdoor activities are considered safe (particularly when participants are wearing masks and crowds are limited), we feel now is the right time to ask that the Mayor’s office change the existing prohibition on outdoor high-contact sports.

We truly believe organizations like ours are in an excellent position to help D.C. and its residents return to a safer sense of normal. As highly organized groups, we are willing partners to the city in safeguarding the experience of our community athletes. Additional requirements for athletic permit holders such as mask mandates, caps on overall participation, and requirement for health checks for all players would be welcome and embraced.

We are eager to return to providing opportunities for D.C. residents to play all sports. We believe the time has come for our residents to be allowed back on the field and are confident that we can help make sure the transition is safe and healthy for all.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Michael Godec
President
CRYSP DC