His Story: Rze Culbreath Gains Understanding As Pro Point Guard and Team Market Owner with Virginia Valley Vipers
Ranking second in TBL in steals, Rze Culbreath shows his skill set extends beyond the basketball court, into the front office, and across a community in Virginia he takes pride in.
Over the course of the 2023 season in The Basketball League, players, coaches, and Team Market Owners alike will take time to openly share their compelling stories and individual journeys from around the country and overseas to ultimately reach the TBL. In their own words. In their own way. Written only by them.
This is his turn.
This is Rze Culbreath’s story.
////
Winchester, Virginia — From playing professionally in Armenia, to attending TBL Draft Combine in Indianapolis, playing in TBL, then becoming a Team Market Owner by bringing Virginia a professional basketball team to The Basketball League, every chapter of my story has helped me grow into the individual that I am today and I’m thankful to have a great support system that has been there through it all.
I believe in life that you have to live life forward and understand it backwards. The meaning here is that you have to continue to look ahead in life and learn from your past experiences; understand that you can’t forget about the life-lessons you have been through, knowing you can grow from each chapter of the past.
Currently in our first season in The Basketball League with the Virginia Valley Vipers, being both a Team Market Owner (one of three for the Vipers) and player has been an adjustment for sure. This has been an up-and-down season for us and I believe our record doesn’t reflect the talented group that we have and the battles we’ve faced this 2023 season. We have been tested this season and have been in many close games in which we weren’t able to put possessions together to finish games. Right now we are 5-15 and are looking to put together a 3-0 weekend next week to finish the season. Aside from on the court experiences, the off the court journey has been amazing.
Being the first TBL team in the state of Virginia is very exciting.
Our team goal in the future is to compete for the TBL Championship and join the Basketball Super League (BSL) when the opportunity presents itself, while also making a positive difference within our community and those that we visit. Sometimes you won’t understand why certain situations happen and might never get closure but at the end of the day, you can’t let that stop you from reaching the best version of yourself. So, allow me to back track and give a brief look into my journey.
For the 2021-2022 season, I was blessed to receive an opportunity to start my professional career across the waters. This opportunity was presented under the FIBA Euro-Basket tour team to play in the preseason of a professional league who had teams that were looking to sign players for their season. The chance to travel to Paris, France and onward to Armenia wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for guys like Dustin Simcox (President of WCL Sports Management. Director of Eurobasket.com) looking to give players an opportunity to showcase themselves. This was my first time leaving the States and Dustin was very professional about making sure I had everything I needed during the trip. He made sure we had meals prepared for us, transportation to and from games, and was consistently making sure everybody was okay. This league is located in Yerevan, Armenia and called the Caucasus Basketball League.
The CBL in Armenia was entering its first year under FIBA and looking to make its mark in the overseas market. I knew this would be a great chance to not only excel my professional career on the court but off the court as well. I was blessed to average 12.1 points, 6.1 rebound, 3.4 steals, and 2.1 assists in 23 minutes per game. In the final championship game, I helped my team by finishing with 20 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists and was chosen MVP of the game. After finishing second in the league in steals (3.4 per game), I was offered a few contracts and opportunities to stay for the full 2021-2022 season with teams, but decided to come back to the States and try to figure out my next move for my professional career.
Playing in the CBL league in Armenia helped my resume more than I thought. After graduating from the University of Pikeville in 2019, COVID hit in 2020 so it was a rough year for everybody who was trying to find their way to begin their pro career. I had an almost three year gap in my basketball resume and knew teams, scouts, agency’s weren’t taking many chances on players who had gaps in their years of playing. When deciding my next step for my professional career, I had been in communication with a few people about different openings overseas and sought the advice of a friend named Robert Weisel (a sports consultant). Along with being an under the radar scout in the overseas market and NBA G-League, he’s from the DMV area and had mentioned to me about this league called The Basketball League.
At that time, he mentioned it was a five-year old league and would be the next biggest league across North America. After speaking with my parents (Tina and Rodney, who are now Team Market Owners of the Vipers) about it, we drove to Indianapolis to attend the TBL 2022 Draft Combine. The 8-hour drive from Virginia in February included a snowstorm, so it felt like a way longer drive because the roads were terrible. At one point we were driving only 10 miles per hour with all of the snow and ice. We could have easily turned around and passed on the TBL Draft Combine, but we made no excuses about it. That weekend I played well and was able to connect with a few TBL teams. I was invited to the Tri-State Admirals training camp in New York and ended up making the team and playing the full 2022 season with the Admirals. People asked me what I enjoyed the most about the TBL Draft Combine weekend and I can honestly say that the meet and greet with Team Market Owners, coaches, scouts, and people within each organization that Friday before suiting-up to play was awesome. Of course I enjoyed playing but the meet and greet was such a great experience for myself and parents. I knew this league was special and “a different league” after that weekend.I was able to meet Evelyn and David Magley and was inspired by their passion and drive to help others.
After finishing the season with Tri-State, my parents and I were presented with an opportunity to bring a TBL team to Virginia.
Since the age of 17 years old, I had thoughts of “what if there was a professional basketball team in the area?”. I’ve had guys older than me who attend college – or some decided college wasn’t for them – and mention they wish there was a professional basketball team around. That has always been a goal of mine to bring a resource like the Vipers back home and that dream became a reality after the 2022 season. This is my 10-year anniversary of graduating high school (Millbrook High School in Winchester, Virginia) and I want the next generation to know that there is a professional basketball team right in their own backyard. Rather they attend college or not, they can try out for the Virginia Valley Vipers.
I encourage individuals to never give up on their dreams and remember to give back to your community. I believe that everything happens for a reason and things work out the way they're supposed to. Even when there is confusion throughout the journey, I always trusted that God had a plan for me. From high school, prep school, junior college, NAIA, then my professional career, there has always been highs and lows during each year of being a student-athlete and a professional athlete. Crazy thing is that, if I had taken an offer to play in Armenia for the full season then playing in the TBL for the 2022 season and bringing a TBL team to Virginia in 2023 wouldn’t have happened.
Originally from Fairfax County and moving to Winchester, Virginia at the age of 14, I attended Millbrook High School in Winchester as a freshman from 2009-2013. I was blessed to be part of the varsity team for all 4 years of my high school career. After my time at Millbrook was over, I ended my career with being 3x All Conference team, earned back-to back Conference Player of the year, 2x First Team All Region, Division 4 Region Player of The Year, 2x All-State team and was invited to play in the Virginia High School League (VHSL) All-Star Game. I finished with 1,523 points, 372 steals, 402 rebounds, 308 assists and averaged 21.0 points per game, 5.3 Steals per game, 5.3 rebounds per game, and 3.4 assists per game.
I currently hold many records at Millbrook High School, one of those includes having the most points scored by any male at the school which still stands today. After graduating, I attended Mt. Zion Prep in Baltimore for a year and then went on to Garrett College ( NJCAA) in McHenry, Maryland where I received my associate degree and made the All-Conference team, All-Region team, and was named to the All-American team. Following my 2 years at Garrett College, I attended the University of Pikeville where I earned my Bachelor degree and played on a full scholarship for the 2016-2018 basketball season to help the team qualify for the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City. It’s there that we won the Conference Championship and received a ring for all of the hard work. After that basketball season at Pikeville, I stayed the extra year to finish my degree in Business Administration through 2018-2019, while also playing soccer at the University on scholarship. Many were confused about me playing but I actually grew up playing soccer and it was one of my favorite sports. I had a mission to finish what I started and become the first person in my family to graduate from college.
Everyday I’m working on ways to become a better individual and provide opportunities for the next generation of young athletes. I understand how important it is to be active in the community and try to be a positive role model. Everybody has choices to make and I encourage people to learn from their past in order to create the future they want. My message to others: everybody’s story is different. Don’t get caught up in trying to compare yourself to other people and their journey because God has a special plan for you.
Trust your work. Be yourself. Be humble. Encourage others. Learn from your past mistakes. And most importantly: as a professional athlete, understand that you’re a role model whether you realize it or not. The next generation is always watching, so make sure you set a good example.
Thank you Wendell Maxey for capturing great stories around The Basketball League, and thank you to Evelyn and David Magley for this chance to be a part of The Basketball League family with the Virginia Valley Vipers.
////
More From The “His Story” Series
Tray Howard (Toledo Glass City)
Tevin Foster (Potawatomi Fire)
Dylan Crane (York Mighty Ants)
Chris Turner (Bakersfield Majestics)
Wendell Maxey is the author of Around The Basketball League and has written about professional basketball and sports for 20 years. He’s been featured on NBA.com, ESPN.com, USA Today, FOX Sports, and SLAM Magazine among other publications and media outlets. You can connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn or read through his archive on Linktree.