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"I'm Jalen Coleman, and I'm a teenager with a passion of creating a bridge between children in the community and basketball. My love of serving the community grew out of watching my parents run  Urban Scholar Academy, an Inglewood academic non-profit organization. My love of basketball came at the age of six years old when I first started playing at the Inglewood Parks and Recreation Center  near my home. I did great that season and immediately told my parents that I love how the game of basketball was played. Thus, I continued to play recreational sports as the years went by. 
 

At the age of nine, I started to play travel basketball, where I would compete in weekly tournaments during the weekends. The price, the time, the traffic, and the travel for basketball became costly. I wondered why families had to travel 30+ miles to a basketball game when there are empty courts in every community?

 

Then Kobe died while traveling with his daughter and team to a travel basketball game. She and I were the same age. That tragedy hurt, but motivated me as well.

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Now, I'm dedicated to returning basketball back to the blacktop. Up the block. Around the corner. Down the street. For the kids. For the community. For the culture."

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