UBC quarterback Garrett Rooker is equally at home these days with both the Canadian and U.S. versions of the game. (Photo by Don Voaklander property of U of Alberta athletics 2021. All rights reserved)
Feature University Football

UBC Football 2022: The ‘Canadianization’ of ‘Birds Texas-born quarterback Garrett Rooker takes flight! Reigning CW Rookie of the Year leads Blue-&-Gold into Saturday opener vs. visiting Alberta!

VANCOUVER — If you’re a fan of B.C. football, I am sure you’ll agree that the summer of 2022 has been blessed by a thick coating of something best described as quarterback karma… the likes of which we have never seen.Of course, you can start with the previously unthinkable: Canadians Nathan Rourke and Michael O’Connor […]

Your author, presenting with pride, the MVP trophy at the 2015 Tsumura Basketball Invitational, to McMath Wildcats' Jessica Jones. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2015 All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Football University

A message from Howard: After 40 years, I’ll bring a new writing direction to Varsity Letters for the 2022-23 high school and university sports season!

NORTH DELTA –  Heartfelt greetings to all of you, my loyal, longtime readers.It’s been five months since I decided to take a break from my writing life.As was the goal from the very start, my decision to take sabbatical after 40 years of daily practice — first from my typewriter, and of course later, in […]

Sure to be a pair of shining stars at TBI 2022 this December are Caden Karrion of B.C. Triple-A No. 1 St. Patrick's, and Kiera Pemberton of B.C. Quad-A No. 2 Walnut Grove. (Photos by Wilson Wong 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

Tsumura Basketball Invitational 2022: The TBI has grown to 64 teams! Check out the new format as we unveil December’s boys and girls fields!

LANGLEY — The 2021-22 B.C. high school basketball season may be but a month in the rearview mirror, yet the journey to a new campaign’s tip-off is already well underway.While Varsity Letters is currently on an extended sabbatical, the one piece of news we did promise last month was unveiling the boys and girls entrants […]

It's time for a rest. Thanks for all your support of Varsity Letters and see you in September. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

It’s time for a rest: Varsity Letters will begin a six-month sabbatical with a planned September return!

NORTH DELTA — Hello to my loyal and cherished readers.I wanted to let you all know that for the first time in my career, I have decided to take an extended leave from writing.In simple terms, by the time I finish tapping out this story, I will begin a near-six month sabbatical to rest and […]

While he did most of his damage shooting the ball, Okanagan Mission's Wil Zylyk kept everybody honest with dribble-drive game during the B.C. senior boys Triple-A championships at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

Howie’s High School Hoops Hamper 2021-22 finale: Random thoughts as the off-season beckons!

LANGLEY — Some random thoughts and remembrances as I pack the 2021-22 B.C. high school boys and girls basketball season into my over-stuffed memory banks and look ahead to the game’s off-season hibernation:BREAKINGTo those who pay attention to our early pre-season polls, I have taken great pride in not only producing the Quad-A poll the […]

Cole Bekkering of the Semiahmoo Thunderbirds is part of a class of rising Grade 11 and 12 players with the South Surrey program which lost in last weekend's championship final to Burnaby South. (Photo by Vancouver Sports Pictures 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

2022-23 B.C. Boys Top 10 pre-preseason hoops rankings! 4A Semiahmoo, 3A St. Patrick’s, 2A St. Thomas Aquinas, 1A Glenlyon Norfolk top the polls!

LANGLEY — Fans of B.C. boys high school basketball were treated to an absolute gem of a provincial tournament for four days last week at the Langley Events Centre.Stirring games in all four rounds, and the largest crowd to witness a B.C. final this century, and perhaps even a lot further back than that… we […]

Prince George Polars senior boys basketball head coach Tyler Burbee, who took in last week's B.C. championships at the LEC, was happy to spread the word about the program's unique Bear Claw Classic invitational set for next season. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

The Bear Claw Classic: Varsity Letters’ high school sports nickname story sparks new and unique boys basketball tourney for Prince George Polars!

LANGLEY — Do a quick web search with the words ‘bear’ and ‘B.C.’ and in a split second, you get information like ‘Most of B.C. is considered bear country.’Bears, of course, are so much a part of our provincial heritage that they have logically been absorbed into our lexicon of sports team nicknames.Last spring, Prince […]

Riverside's Avery Sussex, the Rapids' rising Grade 11 superstar, will lead her team as the ones to beat next season in B.C. girls high school Quad-A basketball. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. senior girls pre-season 2022-23 basketball Quad-A rankings: PoCo’s Riverside Rapids top our first look at province’s largest tier!

LANGLEY — The Riverside Rapids, coming off a loss to its Port Coquitlam crosstown rivals, the Terry Fox Ravens, in this month’s provincial Quad-A championship final, have been tabbed as the team to beat next season in B.C.’s largest tier next season.In an early-look pre-season Top 12 produced by the pollsters behind B.C. senior girls […]

Captured hugging the basketball, could there be a more apropos image of St. Patrick's B.C. tourney MVP Irish Coquia at the B.C. Triple-A senior boys basketball championship final Saturday at the Langley Events Centre? (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

A SUNDAY READ: How the simple words “…Irish, it’s your time” lifted St. Pat’s Celtics past Elgin Park and to a B.C. Triple-A title dedicated to a hurting teammate!

LANGLEY — In the biggest games of his young basketball life, Irish Coquia has averaged an amazing 30 points per game.Yet in any description of the seemingly-indescribable St. Patrick’s Celtics’ Grade 11 guard, it’s important to note that despite his gaudy point totals, he scores higher in the intangibles department than any other statistical category.On […]

Staying within himself and making his final high school game his greatest, Burnaby South's Karan Aujla (right) made Marcus Floares and the Semiahmoo Thunderbirds think twice about everything they did during the B.C. Quad-A senior boys basketball championship final Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

A Sunday Read: A pivot’s night of perfection! As Karan Aujla defies odds to play a perfect game, Burnaby South joins B.C.’s ultra-elite after 4A title win over Semiahmoo!

LANGLEY — Scour the basketball world and we’re pretty sure you’ll be able to find the analytical formulas which attempt to best define excellence on the court.Yet if you happened to be among the 6,000-plus delirious fans who set a new single-event attendance record late Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre for the B.C. […]