Sheriff: Police Athletic League to Stay Intact

The Pasco Police Athletic League is not going to merge with another league, Sheriff Chris Nocco said Friday.

The announcement to the press came after media reports over the past month that the league was considering merging with the Mid-Florida Football and Cheerleading Conference.

Nocco said that parents this past year had talked about joining different leagues. But the Sheriff's Office had a meeting with parents, coaches and directors and “overwhelmingly” heard people say that they want a single league.

“The Pasco Sheriff’s Office Police Athletic League is going to stay intact,” Nocco said. “We’re not going to merge with any other league. And from this point forward, we’re going to try expanding.”

Nocco said the Pasco PAL is looking at opportunities to create a new affiliate league in the Wiregrass/Wesley Chapel area.

“It goes back to community," he said. "We build together, and we grow together.”

The St. Petersburg Times reported July 29 that Pasco PAL executive director Tim Couet said he had discussed a merger with Mid-Florida. The Laker, a community newspaper covering the Land O’ Lakes-Lutz area, reported Aug. 17 that Couet said he was working on merging PPAL and Mid-Florida “to try and save the league.”

Active affiliates in Pasco right now are: Land O' Lakes Gators, New Port Richey Buccaneers, Zephyrhills Bulldogs, Crews Lake Cowboys, Hudson Cobras and Trinity Mustangs. The Pasco PAL was started in 1973 and now serves about 1,200 youths, ages 5 to 14.

There have been reports of discontent with Pasco’s PAL program. The Lutz Chiefs split from Pasco PAL in 2010 and joined Tampa Bay Youth Football League. Affiliates in Wesley Chapel and Dade City joined the Mid-Florida Conference.    

Couet said that some parents felt a benefit of joining Mid-Florida would be the opportunity compete in post-season games, such as at the state level.

Some of the arguments against joining other leagues? Nocco said Pasco PAL had a higher standard for background checks for coaches than other leagues.

Also, there was the problem of travel time to games outside Pasco, Nocco. Some games required trips to 30 miles or 50 miles away.

“It’s all community," Nocco said. "You build relationships. You meet parents from Hudson. Parents meet people from Wesley Chapel. The kids grow up together and it keeps growing."

To help provide "consistency" among players in the league, the PAL is doing away with with weight classifications, which allowed older competitors to "play down" with kids of a younger age because they fit in the same weight bracket 

James Hogan, president of Mid Florida Football, said Couet talked to him months ago about whether Pasco PAL could join Mid-Florida and stay whole. Hogan said Couet told him he wanted to continue to administer the PAL, but as a district of Mid-Florida.

“We weren’t interested,” Hogan said.

Hogan said there had been several teams in the Pasco PAL had approached Mid-Florida individually about defecting to Hogan's league.

“We deal with teams more on that level than any other,” he said.

He said there had not been any talk about a merger since Couet spoke to him months ago.

For more information about Pasco PAL, visit pascopal.org.