The Kelowna Owls celebrate the school's first B.C. senior boys volleyball title in 68 years on Saturday in Richmond. (Photo property of KSS athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

A 68-year drought is over! After 10 straight B.C. trips and five silver medals, Kelowna Owls enjoy the spoils of a 2021 B.C. boys Quad-A volleyball title!

RICHMOND — The Kelowna Owls didn’t have access to a crystal ball and that was a good thing, because instead of knowing every obstacle that was going to be throw its way along what would be an historic championship journey, it simply met each challenge day by day until a 68-year drought had finally been […]

Mt. Douglas' two graduating seniors Becca Pettigrew (left) and Lucy Millam share a moment with Rams' coach Derek Horton after winning the B.C. Triple A title on Saturday. It was coronation day three years in the making. (Photo property of Mt. Douglas athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball

After three years of climbing the mountain, Mt. Douglas Rams top Seaton Sonics to reach the peak at B.C. Triple-A senior girls volleyball champs!

OK, so this championship title thing isn’t easy?Four seasons ago, after an unexpected upset loss in its junior zone championship tournament, Mt. Douglas Rams girls volleyball coach Derek Horton remembers taking his heartbroken team aside and telling them that their time would come.“I don’t consider myself a big speech guy, but I just said to […]

McArthur Hilton of Byrne Creek and the rest of the Bulldogs climb one spot to No. 6 in the latest B.C. AAA rankings. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. boys high school basketball rankings 12.14.21 edition: Fleetwood Park, A.R. MacNeill, STM take giants steps up coming off blue-chip TBI performances!

LANGLEY — No. 1 was about the only safe number this past week in B.C.’s four tiers of senior boys high school basketball.Once again, our pollsters have spoken and here are the latest in our second-to-last edition before the holiday break.SENIOR BOYSQUAD A1 Burnaby South Rebels (10-0) (FN) (LW-1)Last week — Won all four games […]

Feature High School Boys Basketball

Semi, Tammy and the Polars! Three newcomers crack the B.C. junior boys basketball Top 10!

LANGLEY — There has been some big-time shuffling following the pre-season junior boys rankings released at the end of November. Surrey’s Tamanawis Wildcats and Semiahmoo Thunderbirds, as well as the Prince George Polars jump in from nowhere to the Top 10.Here’s the complete look:1 Vancouver College Fighting Irish (VSS) (LW-1)2 West Vancouver Highlanders (VSS) (3)3 […]

Golden smiles defined, Port Coquitlam's Riverside Rapids celebrate the first B.C. senior girls volleyball title in school history Saturday in Nanaimo. (Photo property of Riverside Athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball

Riverside Rapids’ B.C. Quad-A girls volleyball title makes school history! Seniors complete a B.C. championship trilogy in heart-stopping fashion!

At no point along a four-year volleyball journey did Bryan Gee ever underestimate the size of the collective heart which beat within the roster of his Riverside Rapids’ girls volleyball team.Yet come Monday morning, even the team’s head coach had to admit that the performances of his team at the most critical junctures of this […]

Sir Winston Churchill's Marah Dykstra brings her NCAA Div. 1-bound game to the LEC. The Bulldogs star is headed to Montana State next season. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

TBI Girls Hoops 2021: How do you re-schedule an 18-team tourney? Here’s our new draw with a Tsumura ‘message of thanks’ to all players and coaches!

LANGLEY — All teams talk about their journey.In 2021, the girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational has got a story to tell as well.From our own cancelled 2020 tournament, we re-invited the entire field to join us in ’21.A huge number of teams were able to say ‘yes’, but others, for various reasons, most heartbreakingly those with […]

Burnaby South guard Jimmy Zaborniak (right) looks to score under the reach of King George forward Adam Spano on Saturday in the final of the Tsumura Basketball Invitational at the LEC. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved) (Photo by Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

A SUNDAY READ: Burnaby South’s senior duo of Aujla and Zaborniak go above and beyond as new Tsumura Basketball champs recalibrate hoops focus for a run to March Madness!

LANGLEY — One of them took the step of hiring a personal trainer to keep on getting better.The other finally decided to listen to his mom and make healthier eating choices.Taken as a whole, Jimmy Zaborniak and Karan Aujla have left no stone unturned in their quest to lead the Burnaby South Rebels back to […]

With Burnaby South's Karan Aujla (background) proving to be a tough foe, King George's Adam Spano battles for a rebound in Saturday's TBI final at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

TBI Boys Finals 2021: Burnaby South extinguish King George Dragons’ fire with a suffocating defence borne in the heat of Rebels’ own practice gym!

LANGLEY — Come Monday, he will get back to demanding the very best from his players under the crucible of what is a Burnaby South senior boys basketball practice.But on Saturday night, under the bright lights at centre court of the Langley Sports Centre, Rebels’ head coach Mike Bell couldn’t help but call his players […]

Fleetwood Park Grade 10 guard Inder Deol can feel the defensive presence of Sir Winston Churchill's Paolo Murphy (21) and Kai O'Donnell during the 3rd-4th game on Saturday at Tsumura Basketball Invitational. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Tsumura Basketball 2021: Surrey’s surprising Fleetwood Park Dragons take third, while Churchill, Abby, MacNeill, Claremont and STM complete the rest of our boys Great 8!

LANGLEY — Here’s a look at the three games which determined third to eighth at this season’s Tsumura Basketball Invitational which wrapped up Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.THIRD-FOURTHFLEETWOOD PARK 78 SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL 66LANGLEY — Surrey’s unranked Fleetwood Park Dragons, nursing a 54-53 lead after three quarters against Vancouver’s No. 5-ranked Sir Winston Churchill […]

Burnaby South guard Jimmy Zaborniak and the Rebels are playing at their own level this season atop the B.C. boys high school basketball world, and after topping Sir Winston Churchill on Friday in the TBI semifinals in Langley, they hunt the tourney title Saturday against the King George Dragons. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Tsumura Basketball 2021: OK, how the heck do you beat No. 1 Burnaby South? “I think you have to be near-perfect” says Churchill coach Ly after Rebs crush ‘Dawgs for berth in TBI title tilt!

LANGLEY — OK, so what the secret?How in the heck do you beat the Burnaby South Rebels?Or is trying to get past B.C.’s No. 1-ranked AAAA boys basketball team simply an impossible task?“I think you have to be near perfect,” said Quyen Ly, the head coach at Vancouver’s Sir Winston Churchill Secondary after his Quad-A […]