Editor's Note: One of the goals of NEPM's Media Lab is to collaborate with the NEPM newsroom and Masslive.com to give high school and college students in Greater Springfield an opportunity to practice the skills needed to become multi-media journalists.
These community leader profiles were written by the 2025 summer cohort of Media Lab youth producers — high school students learning about interviewing, photographing, filming and writing. Of all the articles written this summer four were chosen to be highlighted on the NEPM website homepage.
Today we highlight Media Lab Youth Media Producer Kevin Bligden's interview with Charles Evans, founder of the 413 Elite basketball league.
Charles Evans and his international basketball team and foundation flew out to Puerto Rico for a basketball tournament this past July. This year, the Jr. 413 Elite team and adult team, 413 Elite both participated in this event.
At first, it was only the adult team that had been a part of 413 Elite. Evans established his youth team this year. He said they focused on the youth because young people are the next generation to enter basketball.
“ I started with the adults, but, the target has always been the youth because, you guys are next. You guys are the future and if the information stops with the adults, you guys won't know how to navigate,” Evans said.
Before he had this international team, Evans would travel around the world to play professional basketball for the United States. He played in places such as Switzerland, Italy, and Tahiti. He learned a lot about basketball while playing in other countries and brought back the fundamentals he learned to America to help teach other people how to play with more capability.
Evans added that if you don’t heed the warnings of the older people in your life, you will fall into a hole that is hard to dig yourself out of.
“With your parents, it may seem like they're nagging. It may seem like older folks is always saying, you know, da da, da, but that's their life," he said. "But it's kind of like they've been through it and they kind of have their regrets, honestly, to where they kind of feel like if I could help just one, especially my own, not make the same mistakes that I've made, they can take it a lot further and life will be a lot better for them.”
