Commissioners
Richard Poritz
Richard founded RBL in 1997 with partner Russel Black.
When he was first introduced to the elementary basketball scene he found that elementary school basketball was giving kids a little taste of basketball but they had a very talented group of athletes (with both of their sons) and wanted to help them reach their basketball potential. Richard and Russel began training these boys outside of school and this team from l’Ecole Bilingue would go on to win the u13 club provincials. Quite a feat for a school team!
Russel Black
Russel Black co-founded RBL in 1997 with Richard Poritz.
Russel was primarily responsible for the girls side of the program and the kindergarten – grade 3 portion of the program.
Russel was extremely instrumental in helping build RBL into the company it is today!
Blake Poritz
Commissioner Blake originally played in the league when he was growing up and eventually became a coach. After being a head coach for many years, he became a part owner of the league in 2013.
The rest of his bio can be found under coaches profiles.
Coaches
Dan McGuire
Dan McGuire has been coaching with RBL since 1998.
Coach Dan has been a head coach in our provincial program for many years and has many titles to his name.
He has coached at many different high school programs (Van Tech, Point Grey), most recently at Killarney high school where he is an English teacher. Dan has also coached JCC Maccabi teams on trips throughout North America and has coached many Basketball BC regional teams.
Dan often takes RBL teams across the border to compete against American competition in Washington.
Guy DaSilva
Guy DaSilva played his high school ball at Kitsilano high school. He would go on to play post secondary basketball at Capilano College before transfering to the University of Calgary.
Guy has coached many years at many different levels. He has coached every age group in high school and has won provincial titles with St. George’s at the grade 8 (bantam) and 2 grade 10 provincial championships (junior level).
Guy is currently in charge of the basketball program at St. George’s.
Coach Guy is largely responsible for our special preseason program which he helps coach and often runs holiday camps during his St. George’s off season. Coach Guy has coached RBL provincial teams.
Blake Poritz
Coach Blake is one of the commissioners of the RBL Basketball program. Commissioner Blake grew up playing RBL as his dad Richard helped start the league in 1997. He played on RBL provincial teams and represented RBL at the U-15 BC club championships as a teammate of former NBA player Robert Sacre.
Blake played his high school basketball at Sir Winston Churchill high school in Vancouver. He helped them qualify for the senior boys provincials, something that Churchill had not done in 32 years. He was named Lower Mainland MVP that year after averaging 38.5ppg in the lower mainland tournament. He graduated in 2006.
Following his graduation Blake played collegiately for Capilano College at the CCAA level for one year before making the jump to the CIS level and playing for St. Francis Xavier University.
Coach Blake has also represented Canada internationally on the Canadian Maccabiah team. He played as a junior (u-19) in 2005 and on the open men’s team in 2013.
Bal Dhillon
Bal Dhillon has been a long time coach with us at RBL. He has coached many provincial teams for us as both a head coach and as an assistant coach.
He played his high school basketball at David Thompson where he averaged 30ppg as a senior in 2001.
Bal would go on to play post secondary basketball at Douglas College in the BCCAA.
Bal works as a community leader with the Burnaby school district and works at Byrne Creek where he is the head coach of the senior boys basketball team.
In the 2017 & 2018 seasons, Bal helped lead Byrne Creek to back to back City Championships and Lower Mainland championships. They would finish in 4th place in the province in 2017, and finish in 2nd place in 2018, the best a Byrne Creek team had ever placed.
Demitri Harris
Demitri Harris grew up playing with the Strathcona program in RBL leagues. He played on one of the very best RBL provincial teams of all time alongside Marc Trasolini and Ty Nurse who both played division 1 basketball and have played professionally.
Demitri played his high school ball at Britannia Secondary School where he helped lead them to a provincial title. Demitri was named MVP of that tournament. He graduated in 2008.
Demitri would go on to play at Capilano college in the CCAA before making the jump to the CIS level and playing for St. Mary’s university.
He has since played semi professionally for the Seattle Mountaineers, the Vancouver Ballaholics and has played professionally for the UPEI storm of the NBL.
Patrick Cumaual
Pat is one of the head coaches for the Strathcona Basketball program. He also puts in a lot of time at his alma mater, Tupper. Pat has been named as an associate head coach at Tupper and has been given the responsibility of coaching the offensive side of the ball for their entire program, an honor bestowed upon him from legendary coach Jeff Gourley.
Pat coached the East Vancouver U14 team to a jamboree tournament championship in 2017 with a team that featured many former RBL provincial team players. Pat has helped coach in our special preseason program and has also coached an RBL provincial team called the RBL Crows who went undefeated, en route to capturing the Basketball u13 provincial championship.
Leland Chung
Leland was first involved with RBL Basketball as a player. He began playing in Kindergarten and played all the way through until grade 10. He represented RBL on a provincial team as a grade 6 and grade 7.
Leland played his high school basketball for St. George’s where he helped the team win their first ever senior boys provincial title in 2009. Leland was instrumental in the semi finals in their win over South Kamloops and NBA player Kelly Olynyk, as he scored 8 points in overtime to help secure a spot in the finals.
Leland is now the webmaster for RBL and also coaches and referees with our program.
Jesseca Eng
Jesseca grew up playing RBL in our girls program (which Russel Black used to run).
Jesseca played on RBL provincial teams.
She played her high school ball at York House helping them win a BC championship.
After graduation she played at Concordia University before coming back home to play for Langara college.
Jesseca is now a teacher at Norma Rose Point and she also coaches with our program.
Adam Rosenthal
Adam Rosenthal grew up playing RBL and represented RBL on a provincial team.
He played his high school basketball at Sir Winston Churchill and graduated in 2003.
After graduation Adam played collegiately for the Capilano College Blues at the CCAA level.
In 2006-2007 he had his best season as he led the league in assists and was named a league all star.
Adrienne Parkin
Adrienne began her playing career in grade 3 as part of the RBL Basketball program. She was first introduced to the game when she would scorekeep her brother’s RBL games. Adrienne played for RBL provincial teams before going on to star as a high school player for Kitsilano. Her Kits team won 3 city championships and she was named MVP in the 2010 city playoffs.
Adrienne also represented British Columbia in the u17 national girls basketball tournament helping BC win gold. She was selected to the provincial all star game in her graduating year of 2011 and was named player of the game.
Throughout her high school career she would coach in several RBL programs providing mentorship to younger athletes.
After graduating from Kitsilano Adrienne would go on to play 5 years at UBC, where she would help the team win 2 Canada West titles (2012, 2015) and medal twice at nationals (Silver in 2012 and Bronze in 2015). Adrienne was a 4 year starter and in her final year was a co-captain of the team.
After graduating from UBC, Adrienne was an assistant coach for the Argyle Girls Junior basketball team in 2016-2017.
Adrienne continues to give back to the game as a coach, and is studying to become an elementary teacher.
After graduating from Kitsilano Adrienne would go on to play 5 years at UBC, where she would help the team win 2 Canada West titles (2012, 2015) and medal twice at nationals (Silver in 2012 and Bronze in 2015). Adrienne was a 4 year starter and in her final year was a co-captain of the team.
After graduating from UBC, Adrienne was an assistant coach for the Argyle Girls Junior basketball team in 2016-2017.
Adrienne continues to give back to the game as a coach, and is studying to become an elementary teacher.
Tyler Lutton
Tyler Lutton played high school basketball for the Killarney and for Pinetree.
In 2006 he helped Pinetree finish 5th in the province as the starting point guard on their team.
Following his graduation he committed to play for UBC-Okanagan.
After a successful rookie year he transferred to Douglas College where he helped lead the team to a national championship.
He then made the jump to the CIS level and played for the Acadia Axemen.
Tyler brings a great enthusiasm for the game and is an extremely knowledgeable coach.
Jerric Palma
Jerric played on 2 RBL provincial teams as a grade 6 and also as a grade 7.
Jerric attends St. George’s high school where he has helped lead his team to a 4th place finish in the province as a grade 8, a 3rd place finish as a grade 9 and a 5th place finish as a grade 10.
As a grade 10 he played both on the junior and senior team.
Jerric also represented RBL on the Alaska Cruise in the Summer of 2015 where we went 6-0 playing against American competition. Jerric graduated from St. George’s as the only 5-time winner of the Athlete of the Year award. After graduating St. George’s Jerric committed to play for the University of Western Ontario Mustangs. In his Freshman season Jerric scored an amazing 37pts in one game.
Gary Minhas
Gary Minhas competed in RBL leagues in elementary school and also in our high school preseason league.
Gary played his high school basketball at Sir Winston Churchill and was a starter on the first ever AAAA provincial championship winning squad in 2014.
Following his graduation from Churchill Gary committed to play for the Langara Falcons of the BCCAA.
Saurav Acharya
Saurav played on an RBL provincial team as a grade 7.
Saurav began his coaching career with us as a grade 9 while at Tupper as he helped coached his younger brother in our house league.
Saurav played his high school basketball at Tupper high school under the legendary coach Jeff Gourley. In his senior season with Tupper he was named team captain.
Saurav has coached many years with us, often with our younger kids programs and he has also been a referee in our grade 2/3 league.
Alex Smith
Alex Smith played on 2 RBL provincial teams. In his grade 7 year his RBL Roadrunners won the provincials. Alex is also well known in RBL for having won many tattoo contests throughout his many years spent at RBL camps. In 2020, Alex’s St. John’s Eagles won the Sea to Sky championship. They went on to a 6th place finish in the provincials.
Ryan Tom
Ryan Tom coached with the Strathcona program for many years in our house league.
Ryan attended Britannia Secondary School. He helped them qualify for provincials and helped lead them to the provincial finals. Ryan graduated in 2009.
Ryan plays for the Strathcona Nacbait team which competes in tournaments all across North America.
Peter Gustavson
Peter Gustavson began playing RBL as a kindergartener.
Known for his outside shooting Peter represented RBL on a provincial team for 2 years as a grade 6 & as a grade 7.
Peter went on to play high school basketball at Vancouver College and as a senior helped them finish 4th in the province.
Deklan Chung
Deklan Chung started playing RBL when he was in kindergarten. Deklan represented RBL on provincial teams as a grade 5, grade 6, and as a grade 7 becoming one of the few to represent RBL on 3 separate provincial teams.
Deklan played his high school ball at St. George’s and in his senior year in 2013 he helped lead the Saints to a 3rd place finish at the provincial tournament. He was named to the tournament all star team and was selected best defensive player for the tournament.
Christian Mair
Christian Mair grew up playing RBL Basketball. He started playing RBL when he was in grade 2. Christian represented RBL on a provincial team as a grade 7. He went on to play his high school basketball at Vancouver College, one of the top programs in the province. Following his high school career, Christian would play CIS basketball at Sir Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario. Christian and his brother Harrison are keen on helping those in need and in 2017 decided to start up an RBL scholarship called the ‘Mair Brothers Community Assist Award’. We are very thankful for their generous contributions.
Keith Chow
Keith Chow started playing RBL Basketball as a grade 3. He represented RBL on a provincial team as a grade 7.
Keith played his high school basketball at St. George’s where he was the leader and point guard on their team.
After high school Keith was selected to play on the Canadian junior national ultimate frisbee team and represented our country in Poland in the world championships in 2015.
Harrison Mair
Harrison Mair played grew up playing in our house league. He started his RBL career as a grade 5 and represented RBL on a provincial team as a grade 7. He went on to play his high school basketball at Vancouver College where he played alongside some of the best Canadian university players of all time in Phil Scrubb and Tommy Scrubb. Harrison was a vital part of that team and he helped them finish 2nd in the province his senior year. After high school Harrison would go on to play CIS basketball at Waterloo University. After starting on the hardwood he would transfer over to the gridiron and play for the University of Waterloo’s football team. Harrison and his brother Christian are very keen on helping those in need and in 2017 they decided to start up an RBL scholarship known as the ‘Mair Brothers Community Assist Award’. We are very thankful for their generosity!
Nigel Palma
Nigel played in our house league throughout his elementary and high school career.
Nigel began coaching with us as a high schooler during his time at VC.
Nigel was the starting point guard at VC and also a stand out football player.
Following his high school career, he committed to play football at SFU.
Nigel has helped coach provincial teams with our program and has also been a referee in our program.
Will Lin
Will Lin played on an RBL provincial team as a grade 7.
He attends St. George’s high school where he helped them finish 4th in the province as a grade 8, 3rd as a grade 9 and 5th as a grade 10.
Will represented RBL on the Alaska Cruise in the Summer of 2015 where we went 6-0 against American competition.
Rowel Acena
Rowel played on 2 RBL provincial teams, as a grade 6 and as a grade 7. Rowel was the starting point guard and a key factor on both RBL provincial teams that he played on and he helped both of them win gold medals.
Rowel played on a BC Summer games team in the Summer of 2016 and helped them win the jamboree tournament.
In the Summer of 2017 Rowel competed for TEAM BC at the national championships.
Masih Golbidi
Masih played in our RBL house league growing up.
He helps out primarily with our grade K-3 programs.
Bryce Johnson
Bryce Johnson is originally from Ontario. He is one of our head referees and also coaches some skill development programs with us.