Our Mission
PAL’s mission through the basketball league is to provide a safe, friendly, and nurturing environment to challenged youth while promoting kids to stay in school or return to school.
We are a unique basketball program that offers free services dedicated to helping at-risk, high-risk, and troubled youth in King County. Those services include: team mentoring, food and beverages after each game, and partnerships with law enforcement to ensure that all games are safe and secure.
Our Players
Many of our players are at-risk of or may be already involved in gang activity but are seeking a way out. We encourage ALL youth who are at-risk, high-risk, or troubled to join our league in an effort to channel their energy in a positive way rather than through gang violence.
Our coaches are experienced working with at-risk, high-risk, and troubled youth and have been successful guides for our players on these more constructive paths. As a result of this program, many of our players have improved their conflict resolution skills, adopted positive attitudes, embraced team building, and conducted themselves in a more dignified and respectful manner. These are positive changes that can happen in a very short period of time.
League Organizer
Fred Umayam, a Seattle native, grew up in the old High Point Projects in West Seattle. His family moved from West Seattle in the early ‘70s to the Mountlake Terrace area where they remained for nearly 30 years. He currently resides in Burien.
He has worked with young people all his life. As a young adult, he served as a youth leader and choir director. He has coached both boys' and girls' basketball, including for own children. He states, “I love it when kids realize that they succeeded.” Fred has worked with PAL since September 2009 and is very enthusiastic about developing the league into a one-of-a-kind operation in King County.
Our Teams
Our league consist of eight (8) teams from the following areas: White Center (Victory), White Center (Evergreen), South Park, Skyway, Burien, West Seattle, South Central, and Federal Way. Each team consists of 10-12 players that range from ages 14-19.
| Team | Team Name | Coach |
| a. Victory (South Park) | Warriors | Sam Heredia |
| b. Evergreen | Young Money$ | Sean Benning |
| c. South Park | Doom | Carmen Martinez |
| d. Skyway | Hollywood | Kendrick Glover |
| e. South King | Blazers | Sean Williams |
| f. Federal Way | Turnt Up | Jimmy Brown |
| g. Central District | 123 Man Up | Deon Fields |
| h. West Seattle | Westside Connection | Jason Clark |
| i. North Central | The Judge | Kevin Roberson |
| j. Southwest | Kings | Aaron Sims |
| k. Auburn | All Nations | Steve Korndorfer |
