Our History & Mission
VanCity Basketball Academy was started as a youth club for players of all abilities. Whether your goal is to make your Grade 8 team or to play in the NBA, we want to help support and guide each athlete to reach their potential. VanCity believes in hard work, discipline, team work and fair-play. We strive to create a fun and educational environment for kids of all ages. We want each athlete to feel part of the VanCity Basketball family while they play in our club as well as when they leave and continue on to whatever life may bring them in basketball.
Principles and Approach
VanCity Basketball Academy believes in empowering each athlete and helping them reach their goals. We believe that players need to be pushed in order for them to reach their full potential. They also need positive reinforcement as well as constructive criticism.
Players in our VanCity Youth Basketball league does an individual skills practice every week and receive equal playing time in order for all players to gain playing experience.
Players on our VanCity Club teams will be challenged to push themselves to a higher level with focus on individual skill development as well as learning higher level team concepts with games and tournaments mixed in.
Coaches
VanCity Basketball coaches have a wealth of playing and coaching experience.
All coaches are NCCP trained and most teams have a head coach as well a younger assistant coach to mentor the players. Meet and learn more about our coaches here.
Alumni
Former VanCity Club Team Members playing College / University Basketball
2014
- Aldrich Berrios – UBC Okanagan (USport)
- Austin Penrose – UBC Okanagan (USport)
- Adam Karmali – Dalhousie University (USport)
- Ismail Abdulahi – Thompson Rivers/Camosun (USport/CCAA)
- Nate Haglund – Capilano University (CCAA)
- Braedan Fitzpatrick – Capilano University (CCAA)
- Luke Collombin – Capilano University (CCAA)
- Mico Carrion – Capilano University (CCAA)
2015
- Anthony Hokanson – UNBC (USport)
- Mccoy Lum – Quest University (CCAA)
- Brandon Meyers – Quest University (CCAA)
2016
- Michael Holowaty – Capilano University (CCAA)
- Sebastien Rohlicek – Capilano University (CCAA)
- Malik Holmes – Capilano University/Langara (CCAA)
2017
- Corky Smith – Dalhousie College (CCAA)
- Brian Wallack – UBC (USport)
- Kiante Knight – Capilano University (CCAA)
2018
- Cam Wright – University of Saskatchewan (USport)
- Kevin Li – McGill (USport)
- Anton Mellinghaus – Capilano University (CCAA)
- Dylan Kinley – Douglas College (CCAA) and UFV (Usport)
- Gio Khan – Douglas College (CCAA), UFV (Usport), SFU (NCAA)
2019
- Elan Kimpton-Cuellar – Thompson Rivers University, UBC Okanagan (USport)
- Gus Goerzen – UBC-Okanagan (USport)
- Luke Howard – Lipscomb (NCAA)
- Vicente Balitaan – UPEI (USport)
- Scott Watson – Capilano University (CCAA)
- Aamir Rajwani – Capilano University (CCAA)
- Dominic Calderon – Columbia Bible College, Langara College (CCAA)
- David Finch – Camosun College (CCAA)
2020
Sergio Pereira – Victoria (Usport)
2022
Matthys van Bylandt – SFU (NCAA)
Oliver Richman – Douglas College (CCAA)
Ernie Oei Scholarship
Ernie Oei spent most of his life teaching and coaching basketball.
From elementary to high school, Girls and Boys, Ernie has been involved in basketball, Head and Assistant Coaching teams, camps, and clinics. He has given back to the game by refereeing as well as many years of tutoring.
Ernie lost his fight with cancer on November 4, 2016. He always wanted every kid to have a chance to play in our family club VanCity Basketball Academy.
We believe that no kid should have to miss out on any of our programs because of money and we try to help sponsor every kid in need. However, as our programs grow and more boys and girls of all ages join the VanCity family, we need help to make sure no kid misses out. Since we are trying to keep the costs of our programs as affordable as possible for all families, we are hoping for donations for the kids that really need the help.
The Ernie Oei Youth Basketball Scholarship was found to help all VanCity Basketball Academy players in need of funding to play in our programs or at post secondary level, and will give away 100 percent of what is received to help those who need it most.
We hope this helps Ernie’s legacy live on. Please contact us for more details at info@vancitybasketball.com
Thank you for your generosity!
If you need help with league fees or team fees please email info@vancitybasketball.com
