By EMILY GARLAND

Renton Reporter staff writer

Mubarak Hassan came to the United States in 2006 to start a new life.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to abandon soccer in that new life.

Hassan, 22, was only 2 years old when he left the governmentless Somalia for a refugee camp in Kenya. That’s where he learned to play soccer, along with many of his teammates on the Seattle Somali Stars soccer team.

The ball in those camps was often made of rolled-together socks. Uniforms were not uniform, but T-shirts of many different colors.

Thanks to a donation from the Renton Police Department Youth Program Fund, the Somali Stars now look a bit more put-together. A major source of money for the youth fund is proceeds from the Return to Renton Car Show.

Renton Police Commander Katie McClincy recently presented the Renton-area men’s team with new silky blue and white jerseys, plus shorts and socks. The coach and managers received new jackets.

The presentation was at the office of the Ogaden-American Community, a Renton nonprofit that sponsors the team.

Before the donation, the team played in mixed T-shirts harking back to its refugee-camp days.

“You guys look great,” McClincy told the 17-22 year olds modeling their new threads at a recent presentation.

Defensive player Sharmarke Adam agreed.

“We look like a team,” he said. “Before, we didn’t look like a team.”

Adam, 20, of Tukwila, has played soccer since age 10. Like most of his teammates, Adam is from Somalia but came to the United States from a refugee camp in Kenya.

After coming to the United States, Adam waited two years before joining a soccer team.

“I didn’t see a team that represented Somalia,” he says. “When I saw a team that represented Somalia, I joined the team.”

That team was Seattle Somali Stars. He joined about five months ago.

Adam plans to play soccer the rest of his life. He also wants to start a business.

His teammate Ali Abdulla, 20, of Rainer Beach, wants to be a lawyer. If not for Somali Stars, he may not have followed that dream.

“I used to go clubbing every night. I used to be clueless. Then I started going to school,” midfielder Abdulla says.

Somali Stars coach Mohamed Hagi motivated Abdulla to turn his life around.

“He’s the only person who gives us time,” Abdulla says. “Seven days a week, and we don’t pay him.”

Hagi has coached soccer for 25 years. Before that, he was a professional soccer player in Mogadishu, Somalia, from 1979-1983.

“When I was young I liked to play soccer,” he said with help from a translator. “It is my favorite hobby, it keeps me entertained and strong. It’s everything, you know.”

The Somali Stars say Hagi united a group of Somali refugees into a team, and kept them from trouble.

“If not for him, I’d be drinking, or be a gangster or a bad person,” Abdulla says.

With three to four years as a Somali Star, Abdulla is one of the team’s veterans.

He and his teammates want to recruit more Somali Stars, and form a younger team, too.

“Our main goal is to bring all youth together,” Adam says.

Other youth-fund programs

• Powerful to be Me – A program that gives about 30 school-age boys each year the tools to become solid citizens by teaching them about integrity, discipline and chivalry. Many of these young men do not have strong adult role models in their lives. This program gives them the opportunity to learn life skills that will benefit both them and the communities they live in.

• Summer Scholarship Program – A program that enables disadvantaged kids to participate in the Renton Parks Department Summer Day Camp. The Summer Day Camp accommodates youth ages 3–16 years old for 6 to 10 hours per day. The kids participate in learning activities and go on field trips.  Approximately 1,500 kids attend Summer Day Camp each year. 

• Teen Summit – A program for high school students, organized by the Renton Parks Department. Some of the topics covered are: healthy lifestyles, cyber bullying, safe driving, career pathways and money management. Approximately 200 teens attended in 2008. 

• Play-Day in the Park – A summer program that runs one day per week for six weeks, rotating between six different parks in Renton. It targets pre-school age children, and includes lunch and age-appropriate learning activities.  Approximately 2,000 children participate in this program each year. 

• Renton High School Japanese students’ field trip – Five classes of students studying Japanese at Renton High School attended a day-long cultural field trip this year.

• Summer Lunch Program – A program run by the Renton Parks Department that provides an educational program and lunch during the summer.