Shawn Daly

The role of the President is to lead the organization in all matters including developing strategies for growth, creating agendas and presiding over board meetings. The President also represents the league with the West Hartford All Sports Council.

Shawn has lived in West Hartford for over 50 years attending Duffy Elementary School, Sedgwick Junior High/Middle School and Conard High School graduating in 1984. He went on to graduate from the University of Connecticut in 1990 with a BA in English and later, earned his MBA in Managing in the Global Economy from Excelsior University in Albany, New York in 2010.

He has been a board member with the West Hartford Girls Basketball League (WHGBL) for over six years serving as the league's Registrar from 2019 - 2020 and then President from 2020 - present. Shawn has also participated as a coach with the WHGBL from 2013 - 2019, a coach with the West Hartford Girls Soccer League (WHGSL) from 2013 - 2019 and was a coach with West Hartford Alumni Baseball from 1988 - 1993.

Joe DeLutrie: Vice-President

The Vice-President is responsible for serving all duties of the President in the event the President is unable to perform those duties. This Vice-President also handles managing the league scorers and timing officials.

Joe DeLutrie joined the league in 2005 when he began coaching his daughter.  He enjoys volunteering and is a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentor.  He also coached his daughter in the West Hartford Girls Softball League, and he coached both of his sons in the West Hartford Youth Baseball League and West Hartford Youth Basketball League (WHYBL).  Joe has a passion for basketball and baseball, and he played college basketball at the UConn West Hartford campus.  Joe still coaches in the WHYBL, and you may also see him around town umpiring youth baseball games or refereeing youth flag football games.

Doug Packard

 The Treasurer is responsible for maintaining, organizing and reporting financial operations of the League to the Board of Directors and the All Sports Council as needed. The financial operations include recording all transactions in the league’s checking account, documentation retention and recording revenues and paying expenses. Reporting includes current bank account balances at Board meetings, development of the annual budget and producing both financial statement and tax information.

Doug is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Business in Accounting. He has been a Certified Public Accountant in various roles with the financial services industry since 1983.

Jeff Vanags

The Assistant Treasurer helps the league Treasurer perform their duties in managing the financial operations of the league and acts in place of the Treasurer during any time the Treasurer is unavailable to perform their duties.

Jeff is a proud graduate of Central Connecticut State University and been employed as an insurance professional since 2005 at a large local insurance company. He is currently a Managing Director of Product Development with extensive knowledge of claims, insurance systems, as well as data & analytics. Jeff is also a professional choral artist who is a founding member of a local but internationally lauded choral ensemble,

Eileen Daly

The Secretary is responsible for managing and the maintenance of all documents and records (paper or digital) required for the operations of the league including taking meeting minutes.

Eileen Daly gained Board experience as Secretary and Assistant Treasurer and is a long-time member of the Junior League of Hartford. She used this experience when she came to the WHGBL Board to fill in for the vacated Secretary post in 2021. Eileen moved into the Assistant Secretary role for the WHGBL in 2023. Eileen is married to Shawn Daly (the league President) and they have a daughter, Shannon who attended St. Thomas the Apostle Pre-K School, Morley Elementary School, King Philip Middle School and Hall High School.

James Bargon

The role of the Registrar is to manage the registration of players in the league. The Registrar creates the registration page for the league and is also responsible for assigning players to teams in the Minors Division.

James Bargon joins the West Hartford Girls Basketball League following a long-time association with the Wilton (CT) Basketball Association, where he was board member for 6 years and a volunteer travel basketball coach for 16 seasons. Last season James coached his granddaughter in the Minors Division.

 James and his wife recently relocated to Hartford’s West End to be closer to their daughter, son-in-law, and 3 granddaughters. James is the owner of a medical communications agency.

Craig Tanner

The responsibility of this role is to develop, update and maintain the basketball skills for players and coaches in the league. This role also develops and manages the leauge’s basketball clinics provided for players and coaches during the season. This role also acts as the Head Referee for the Juniors Division and manages all referee officials in the Juniors Division. This role also manages the Seniors Division New Player’s Assessment done at the beginning of each season.

Craig Tanner served as the Varsity Girls Basketball Coach at Northwest

Catholic from 1985 to 2007. During his tenure, he achieved three state championships and made eight appearances in championship games. His career coaching record stands at 439-123.

In 1999, he was chosen as the State of CT High School Girls Basketball Coach of the Year. In 2013, he was honored with induction into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

He had a career as a Middle School Athletic Director and PE teacher for 40 years, coaching Varsity High School Soccer for 12 years and Middle School softball for 26 years.

Ariane Dyson Ahmed

This role supports the Training and Development Director in all aspects of the role including acting assisting in providing league basketball clinics and helping provide teams, coaches and players with individual skill enhancement when appropriate.

Ariane has a passion for girls basketball and believes in the league’s mission to teach leadership skills through learning and understanding the fundamentals of basketball. She seeks to help players make lifelong friends.

Ariane is in her third year with the WHGBL and is excited to see ladies improve and having fun while playing basketball. She is a former junior college, DIII player competing at the college level in Seki, Japan. She has a masters in secondary education and enjoys working with young minds. She has been a coach in basketball since college.

Ariane has a son who plays basketball and baseball for leagues in West Hartford. Her son enjoys attending the girls games and mom and son often attend local games together.

Jessica Seifel

This role is responsible for soliciting feedback from players and their parents/guardians to gain valuable information that can help improve the league and its operations.

Jessica has taught K-12 music in public schools and has private piano lessons in her studio for students of all ages and abilities. She has been a soccer, basketball and swim team coach in levels from recreations through high school junior varsity teams.

Jessica enjoys cultivating growth whether through teaching, coaching or gardening. She loves guiding youths to realize their full potential and

helping them teach what they have learned in service to others.

Jennifer Pasion-Blocker

This role is responsible for coordinating and managing the Certified Referees for the league. In addition, this role will support the board in helping with practice and game scheduling.

Jennifer has officiated 10 seasons as a part of IAABO Board Six and her first year splitting her membership with Board 8. Jennifer has officiated in various summer leagues, fall leagues, AAU tournaments and Parks & Recreational Leagues across Connecticut. She will be entering her second season as a Division II/Division III/Junior Collège official.  She has also officiated in  the Greater Hartford Pro Am for two season.

Melinda Love

This role is responsible for managing the coaches and players for the Minors Division of the WHGBL. The Coordinator is responsible for helping to recruit coaches, promote the culture, mission and leadership core values of the WHGBL and communicate with coaches, players and parents with children in the league.

Melinda has lived in West Hartford since 2016. She began as an assistant coach in the WHGBL in 2018 and has been a head coach for the minors since 2019. Melinda has a niece who played in the league in the prior years. Melinda joined the WHGBL board in 2025 as the Minor Division Coordinator. Melinda is a Certified Public Accountant and has worked in Internal Auditing for almost 20 years.

Joette Trinh

The Director of Risk Management assists the WHGBL in viewing decisions, procedures and processes through a legal lens. This role helps the league develop and review contracts with vendors and helps protect the interests of the league, it’s employees and volunteers.

Attorney Trinh is admitted to both the Connecticut and Massachusetts bars. She practices primarily in the area of real estate law, estate planning and small business law.

Attorney Trinh received her J.D. from Western New England University in 2013, and her B.A., magna cum laude, from McDaniel College in 2006. While attending Western New England University School of Law, Attorney Trinh was a member of the Negotiations Moot Court Team.

Bonnie McFarland

The League Advisor provides the league with insight and information on numerous items concerning league operations.

Bonnie is an engineer with a doctorate in materials science and engineering and bachelors of science in chemical engineering. She and her spouse of 20 years have a daughter who played for the League in past years.

Rick Araya

The Equipment Director is in charge of ordering, tracking and maintaining all equipment for the league. This role is also responsible for selecting vendors and ordering and managing league uniform distribution. This role also assists with training and development responsibilities of the league.

Rick Araya coached 16 teams in the West Hartford Girls Basketball League for his three daughters. He coached AAU Basketball for 5 years, and soccer in the rec and travel leagues for over 20 teams.  Rick was a solid high school basketball player but never reached his goal of playing basketball in college although he represented his Chiropractic College in the National Chiropractic Olympics and the California Games. 

Dr Rick is a local chiropractor for 22 years and an active member of the community in various roles and St. Peter Claver Parish. He is most proud of his daughters, Katia, Grace and Alice and indebted to his wife, Melanie for her patience with his community service.