MEET THE BLUE CHIP COACHES
Coach Alex Stephens
Head of Basketball Operations and Player Development
Coach Alex's motivation is a product of his experiences, hard work, and dedication, which have all fueled the drive and passion Alex has for coaching.
Coach Alex Stephens has over 20 years of coaching experience, and has played and coached on almost every level. Alex attended Chino Hills Ayala HS, was a 4 year player where the team reached a ranking of 5th in the state his senior year while also maintaining a 4.2 GPA and being awarded the Scholar Athlete of the year award. Coach Alex later went on to coach the Freshman and JV teams at his alma mater.
Alex attended and accepted an academic scholarship from CSULB as part of the President's Scholar program. As a freshman, Alex was invited on the team as a walk on. Alex received his degree in Kinesiology. Later, Alex played in the FILA Summer Pro League and in Panama as an alternate for the National Team.
Coach Alex has used his degree to work in the rehabilitation & fitness industry for the past 18 years. Alex has had an extensive list of clientele including former president Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, award winning producer Wendy Finerman, Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ojiofor, and the late John Ritter. Alex has also trained professional athletes, including Randall Cunningham (NFL great), Triple H (WWE), Tommy Hearns (boxing legend), and the Houston Rockets.
Alex has been the Varsity Head Coach at S.E.L.F. High School in Irvine, CA, worked with programs including Rich Goldberg's A.R.C., Robert Icart's B.T.I., and Olin Simplis' B.F.T. Alex along with the aid of other great coaches has had an opportunity to develop players that have played AAU, High School, College and Pro Basketball in the NBA and overseas.
As founder of Blue Chip, Coach Alex's goal is to simply use basketball as a tool and vehicle to make a positive effect and give each player an opportunity for a higher education, both on and off the court, by creating high quality character student athletes.
Coach Evan Porter
Coach Evan is the Head Varsity Basketball at Van Nuys High School where he has coached for 3 seasons. In the 2016-17 season, his team became CIF City Section Division III Champions and he was named Coach of the Year.
Coach Porter has playing experience at Westchester High School and Saddleback College. He has 20 years of experience in and around the game of basketball with 15 years of basketball coaching experience, and 10 years working with student athletes in the classroom and in camp settings. His background in early childhood development and behavior services creates a culture of structure and positive reinforcement that every athlete can excel under. Coach Porter's ability to create strong teams and develop players into positive members of society makes him an asset to the LA Blue Chip Academy of Basketball.
Coach Blake Arnet
Coach Blake was a 4-year varsity player at Mater Dei High School. As their senior captain, he led the team to a 35-1 record and ranked in the top 10 nationally. At Mater Dei, he was a 4-time SoCal Basketball Champion, 2-time CIF Basketball Champion and a 2-time California State Basketball Champion.
Blake turned down smaller D1 scholarships to become a preferred walk on at UCLA and earned a full scholarship during his junior year. He won the 2011 UCLA Athletics Rose Gilbert Courage and Character Award for starting an online fund for his late mother in hopes of finding a cure for MS (Multiple Sclerosis). He graduated from UCLA in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. Since then, he's been in the startup world as an entrepreneur and team member and is currently leading community engagement at Halo Home (halohome.io). Coach Blake works with LA Blue Chip developing the 11u teams.
Coach Rod Raines
Recently arrived from New York City, Coach Rod has been a guest trainer with Blue Chip in the past year. Rod attended Beacon High School in Manhattan and received All-Manhattan honors junior and senior year. He played Division 1 Junior College at Panola Junior College in Texas and then transferred to Webber International University in Florida after the first year, playing Division 2 there.
Since then, Rod has been playing in various pro basketball tournaments around the US. He's also been heavily involved with the basketball community both via Nike as a basketball skills master trainer – working with people such as WNBA champion and 3x Olympic Gold Medalist,10x All-Star and soon to be Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings, and dribbling instructor and mentor for the past 7 years for the Indiana’s Catch the Stars Foundation. He’s been a promotional athlete for Nike in events such as the USA Basketball Youth Training, Nike x Jordan x USA Basketball event in LA, Kyrie 3 Training Experience in NYC and Nike x China National Team in NYC. And he’s worked with charities such as It’s For The Sole, providing sneakers for the youth and homeless in NYC, and as a volunteer trainer and mentor at a basketball program in NYC called BSNY (Basketball Stars of New York).
Coach Ryan Torp
Ryan grew up in Napa and received his Undergraduate Degree at UCLA in Economics and Film/TV. He currently works as a Television Executive for NBC Universal. Ryan has always had a strong passion and love for the game of basketball. He’s played the game his whole life, which includes several years of AAU combined with four years of Division 1 High School Basketball. Additionally, Ryan has taught strength and conditioning, being mentored by the head strength & conditioning coach at UC Berkeley. At UCLA, Ryan ran The Den- a student basketball organization aimed towards building a more proactive environment for the fan-base. Coaching has always been an area of interest for Ryan. He loves competition but more importantly, gets great joy out of seeing youth develop. Volunteering for Reading to Kids, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring under-served children, has allowed him to do just that. Above all else, Ryan wants to use his enthusiasm for the game to instill the utmost passion and excitement in the players.
Coach Ralph Hill IV
Ralph is a 6’ 6” former 4 year Division I player at Oakland & Dayton University. Coach Ralph is the true embodiment of the student athlete as he received his degree in Engineering and now works with Launch Composite Material – Seals, for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) manufacturing and launching advanced rockets and spacecrafts.
Breen Weeks
I train players for two reasons:
One is obvious - to help players improve, by aiding in the expansion of their mental & physical capabilities on the court.
The second is relationship building.
I genuinely want each player to feel that they have someone they can count on. I’m there for every player I work with, no matter the situation.
I train players ranging from all levels. From NBA, WNBA, overseas, all the way to the elite level of college, high school, and youth in the country.
Cathedral Catholic HS/Lee Academy prep
4 separate colleges
Final college: Portland Bible College
Senior year accolades:
Conference title
Player of the Year
First Team All-Conference
First Team All-Region
NCCAA All-American
Played professionally in Germany
Javorn Farrell
Javorn Farrell recently arrived to LA from the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. Javorn was a 4 year varsity starter in High School (Bishop Ireton High School/Riverdale Baptist School).. Played AAU basketball with DC Assault. In the CSTV Next Generation rankings, Farrell was listed as the No. 43 prospect in the nation for the high school class of 2009. HS Accolades 1000+ Career Points WCAC All-Conference Honors All-Met Honors McDonald’s All-American Nominee News Channel 8 Metropolitan Player of the Year. Farrell went on to play collegiate ball at the University of Massachusetts (UMass). He graduated with a degree in Sociology, and sat out in his final season at UMass due to injury. Farrell subsequently transferred to formerly known, University of Texas - Pan American (UTPA) now University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) to complete his final season.
Ryan Walcott
Objective
To continue guiding and instilling responsibility, self awareness and mentoring of individuals in all age groups. Over 11 years of training in team and/or individual setting with focal points on increasing physicality of one's own attitude, speed, endurance and basketball handling skills.
Experience
2006 to current -
Instruct youth in skill building for sporting event preparations to improve capabilities
Increase individual and team sportsmanship initiatives to improve self awareness
Prepare athletes/trainees to better enhance personal traits as students and to make a difference within their community
Annual participant in AAU Circuit Scouting Plans
2009 to 2017 -
Team Bibby Basketball Head Coach
Coaching, training, mentoring 100+ youths
2015 Fab 48 Champions
2014 and 2015 Double Pump Champions
Bigfoot Hoops Las Vegas Champions
2012 to 2014 -
Cactus Shadows High School Varsity Assistant Head Coach (Basketball)
2014 Conference Champions
2011 to 2012
Sandra Day O'Connor Freshmen Head Coach and Varsity Assistant Coach (Basketball)
2006 to 2009
DFAC Head Coach/Trainer
Responsible for advancement of 75-100 trainee