Rumi (53) Vs. Burlington Force Elite (50) Game Highlights @ 2025 MYBL Teir 1 (AAA Championship)
Rumi Philosophy, Purpose & Vision
Rumi Basketball Academy strives to help players unlock their potential through a joyful, challenging, collaborative and transformative team culture.
Beyond the goal to support high performance basketball development and to compete at highest level of basketball play – delivered through exceptional coaching, team enrichment and athletic training – we will simultaneously support and challenge our players [and community] to embody excellence in character and leadership on and off the court!
With the support of the entire Rumi community and guided by Canada’s Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) framework, we will strive to nurture a holistic, accountable and enriching learning environment designed to help players become high performing athletes – while also developing their independence, multiple intelligence and leadership capacities toward the betterment of self, others and the world.
Our players, coaches, volunteers, administrators, parents/guardians, partners and community recognize and appreciate that our individual character, growth and flourishing is dependent on the integrity [or duplicity] and wisdom [or ignorance] of the relationships and networks [online, school, family, team, work and neighbourhood] we invest our time and energy. As a ‘challenge network’, the Rumi community will regularly reflect and engage in sincere dialogue to help players advance an optimal, self-authorizing and integral life.
Rumi (53) vs. Barry Royals (44) OBA Cup Championship Game
Your ‘Environment’ in the moment determines your ‘Focus’; Your ‘Focus’ becomes your ‘Reality; Your ‘Reality’ determines your ‘Actions’; and Your ‘Actions’ manifest into your ‘Destiny’……choose your ‘Environments’ and ‘Focus’ wisely.
– Rumi Coaches (2024)
Rumi Coaches & Leadership Team
Our team of professional coaches and educators have been delivering innovative and efficacious youth sport, leadership, coaching/teaching development and educational enrichment programs in Durham Region and beyond for more than 20 years.
We hold interdisciplinary backgrounds and have experience working with diverse groups of students, athletes, coaches, teachers, teams, schools, organizations and communities. In addition to our work at Rumi, we are parents, professional educators (working in primary to post-secondary education), researchers, experts in the field of leadership and high performance coaching, athletic trainers, and athletes.
Our coaching development team and head coaches hold notable playing and/or work experience at the collegiate levels (NCAA/CIS/OCAA) and/or professional leagues (NBA/FIBA).
Our Rumi programs are guided by evidence informed research along with the Canada’s Sport for Life Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) framework to design and deliver efficacious learning environments.
Rumi Values
Together, we will strive [and sometimes fail] to embody the timeless, universal and self-evident moral and performance values that are optimally needed/expected to become more fully human, depending on the context.
Our Rumi moral values [displayed in our character] and performance values [displayed in our competence] include, but are not limited to:
- Moral Values – Love, Trust, Faith, Purpose, Humility, Courage, Mercy, Respect and Interdependence
- Performance Values – Agency, Focus, Discipline, Challenge, Imagination, Perseverance, Critical Thought, Work Ethic & Independence.
Rumi Approach to Learning, Athletics & Leadership
We employ a full-circle or integrative approach to learning, athletics and leadership development with the aim of helping our players learn how to make sound choices and to strive toward excellence in character, competence and collaboration – within and beyond the game!
‘Beyond mountains, there are mountains’
While we celebrate our individual, team and community accomplishments with pride, we know the journey is far from over. As our Rumi culture reinforces:
‘Beyond mountains, there are mountains’. At its core, this proverb suggests that: When you overcome one challenge, another one often lies ahead.
This proverb is not meant to be discouraging — rather, it’s a reminder of the ongoing nature of learning, growth, and effort. Whether in sports, personal and community development, leadership, or life, we never truly “arrive.” Every peak we reach (or challenge we overcome) reveals new perspectives and new opportunities to grow.
Our players understand that they are not just athletes — they are multi-dimensional human beings and integrative leaders who understand that success is about more than just winning games. Each player strives to remain focused, humble and committed to learning toward betterment of self, others, and the world.
