Basketball Academy

Barrie Curtis, the founder and director of The Basketball Academy, is also the former assistant coach for the men's basketball team at NAIT and is the founder and head coach of the Red Storm Basketball Club. With over twenty years of coaching experience across Canada, he follows a well-formed coaching philosophy to ensure a high level of intensity for players that emphasizes teamwork, discipline, and mutual respect in an effort to help the participants become well-rounded individuals, dedicated athletes and productive members of society. He encourages players to use their natural abilities and talents to contribute to team performance, especially through their use in defensive and offensive plays. Most importantly, Barrie strives to help those who have had disappointing or hurtful experiences in basketball to regain their passion for the game, and also follows the philosophy that there is no such dichotomy between great players and “other” players. He believes that all players are the “great players to be” but need to be nurtured to reach full potential. Barrie is also NCAA certified.
After successfully coaching in Ontario, Barrie went on to Edmonton and coached the Cobras, an under-13 Bantam Boys A Division club team in the Police Association League, to a City Championship in 1997, and also coached them in 1998 where they went on to be one of two Canadian teams to represent Canada in the World Youth Games held in London, England. The boys competed in the U16 division and finished 6th.
In 1999, Barrie held the position of Director of Basketball for the Riverbend Community League, and has continued to be involved with the League in various capacities, particularly as a coach for various age groups and is accomplished in coaching both boys and girls teams. Barrie has also coached both the Junior and Senior Boys basketball teams at Riverbend Junior High School in Edmonton, resulting in a victory at premier City Finals as well as two second-place titles at the Premier City Finals. In recent years, he has also served in a volunteer capacity with the Riverbend Junior High Senior Girls team.
Barrie founded The Red Storm Basketball Club in Edmonton in 1999 to fulfill a unique community need: with rising interest throughout Canada in basketball, a need for high-level competitive basketball training and coaching for youth in a community setting emerged
In the spring of 1999 Barrie coached the first Red Storm teams to an undefeated season, obtaining victories over teams from Alberta and surrounding areas. Barrie went on to coach Red Storm Basketball Club teams in USA Tournaments, where at times Red Storm was the representative of Canada. The tournaments attended were some of the largest and most competitive youth basketball tournaments of their kind in the world, with as many as 400 teams attending. The Red Storm Teams have never finished lower than 9th. Over the summers from 1999 to 2004, the Red Storm Basketball Club competed in the ARC National Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the Juvenile Team earning 3rd place in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, the Red Storm Juvenile Team was the first Canadian team to win the ARC National Championship. From its establishment in 1999, the basketball club program began ranking as first or second among club programs in Alberta.
Since becoming the assistant coach for NAIT's men's program, NAIT has won the ACAC championship for the 2009-2010 season.
As basketball and youth culture evolved, Barrie developed a new program to fit the needs of youth; the outcome being the establishment of the Edmonton Basketball Academy.
Barrie has coached various players who are playing or have played in the NCAA as well as Universities & Colleges throughout Canada, including but not limited to: Jermaine Bucknor, J.R. Patrick, Shane Leman, Brent Lewis, Jon Hameister-Ries, Andrew Parker, Ryyan Koleric, Alex Mahary, Mike Melnychuk, Dorian Andrews and more.