Trinity Western Spartans prop Josh Halladay credits the program's shared coaching staff as a source of unity through the tough 2020-21 season. (Photo by Mark Janzen property of Trinity Western athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Rugby University rugby

Trinity Western rugby: By sharing the same coaching staff, Spartans’ men’s & women’s teams strengthen team bonds!

LANGLEY — Its blueprint leads you to believe it has been designed specifically to guide its student-athletes through the unique emotional demands of the current global pandemic.Yet the coaching co-operative which was poured as part of the foundation of the Trinity Western Spartans men’s and women’s rugby teams back in 2019 is proving itself to […]

Byrne Creek's Felix Chong (left) and Alex Flores (right) help steady videographer Sampson Fang as the trio captures images of multi-sport athlete Jas Sidhu for its Athlete of the Month feature. (Photo property Byrne Creek athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School High School Rugby

At Burnaby’s Byrne Creek, Athletic Council class gives students an empowered ‘voice of community’ in a time of disconnect!

BURNABY — This past September, on what was the first day of a freshly-minted class in the curriculum at Byrne Creek Community School, the teacher posed a defining question to his students.“I had the kids write down what they thought the athletic climate was at Byrne Creek, and how they would perceive us if they […]

Surrey's Earl Marriott Mariners celebrate a 2019 B.C. senior boys AAA rugby title. B.C. high school rugby has been pretty much silent ever since. Next month, Marriott head coach Adam Roberts will stage a free webinar designed to help B.C. high school rugby players navigate the tricky waters of playing the sport next season at the university level. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Rugby

The future of B.C. high school rugby? Free webinar builds momentum as players, university coaches prep for virtual meet-&-greet March 3!

SURREY — By the time B.C. high schools stage cap-and-gown graduation ceremonies this July for its Class of 2021, boys rugby will have missed two straight seasons of play due to the global pandemic.Adam Roberts knew there was a need to keep high school rugby players and their families in the loop regarding the uncertain […]

Getting her first test of professional play in the Allianz Premier XVs with London's Saracens, Sophie de Goede is climbing the world rugby ladder at age 21. (Photo by Neil Elliott property of Saracens RFC 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Rugby University Women's Basketball

A Sunday Read: The origin story of Victoria’s Sophie de Goede! At 21, Canada’s rising rugby superstar makes her mark with London’s Saracens

Last October, as she packed her rugby bags pre-flight for what was to be an extended overseas professional residency in the birthplace of her sport, Sophie de Goede made sure to leave a little room for the other half of her athletic alter-ego.“I brought my basketball shoes over, hoping that I would be able to […]

Making a sure tackle during the 2019 provincial championships is Sir Charles Tupper's Kiya Vivier-Miller, who earned selection to the 2020 BCSSRU Fab 50 all-star team. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Rugby

The Fab Fifty-B.C.’s Top 50 high school boys Grade 12 rugby players! Despite a lost season, BCSSRU salutes the skill, heart & grit of its Class of 2020!

LANGLEY — Theirs was a season which was ended in its infancy back in March.Yet while the B.C. boys high school rugby graduating Class of 2020 didn’t get a chance to experience the tests of league, playoff and provincial matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no doubting its heart and its skill.That’s why […]

Trinity Western Spartans' blue-chip rugby recruit Josiah Levale, of Abbotsford Secondary, has already represented Canada in international competition. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Rugby University rugby

“I got some rocks, and I loaded them in a bag”: Trinity Western Spartans’ rugby recruit Josiah Levale never shies from the heavy lifting!

LANGLEY — When you take a second to consider the quality of stone from which Josiah Levale has been chiseled, perhaps it’s not surprising to learn just how resourceful one of the prized signings in Trinity Western rugby’s incoming 2020 class of recruits was in tending to his training regimen over the early stages of […]

Lord Byng rugby players were able to relish some post-game moments with host Matamata of New Zealand just days before its March tour of the Southern Hemisphere was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Graphic by Gabriel Lynn property of Varsity Letters 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Rugby

A Sunday Read: Song Sung True —  Lord Byng rugby performs profound rendition of the Coast Salish anthem before New Zealand tour cut short by COVID-19

VANCOUVER — Last month, Nathan Berrington-Dom stood on the other side of the world, flanked by his 25 fellow teammates from the Lord Byng Grey Ghosts senior boys rugby team. They were ready to sing a song.

Quinn Ngawati and the SMUS Blue Jags claimed The Boot spoils in 2017. (Photo by Kyle Slavin property of SMUS athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Rugby

B.C. high school rugby 2020: As ‘The Boot’ classic enters its second quarter-century, SMUS vs. Oak Bay gets a TV audience

VICTORIA — One of the gems of the B.C. high school rugby calendar becomes less of a secret outside of the provincial capital beginning this season.That’s because Thursday’s 26th playing of the annual Boot Game (6:30 p.m.) between storied rivals St. Michaels University School Blue Jags and Oak Bay Barbarians at historic Centennial Stadium on […]

B.C. high school rugby coaches, like Lord Byng's Mike Mallette, are part of a rare resource being celebrated by BCSSRU rugby commish Walter van Halst, who has set up free coaching clinics to coincide with B.C.'s Pro D Day this Friday. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Rugby University rugby

BCSSRU offers teachers free rugby coaching clinics on Pro-D Day: “Why can’t we develop coaches the same way we develop teachers?” asks commish

SURREY — During the summer, as Walter van Halst contemplated some of the best ways to both recognize and enhance the many dedicated teachers who volunteer their time to coach rugby in B.C. secondary schools, he kept asking himself the same fundamental question.“Why can’t we develop coaches the same way we develop teachers?” asked the […]

UBC Thunderbirds' head men's rugby coach Curry Hitchborn sees the immense value attached to his team's participation in the 2019 World University Rugby Invitational in Japan next week. (Photo by Ben Nelms provided courtesy of UBC athletics 2019. All rights reserved)
Feature High School Rugby University rugby

A Rugby World Cup of their own! UBC Thunderbirds travel to Japan for eight-nation World University men’s championship

VANCOUVER — Canada opens play in Japan at the 2019 World Cup of Rugby on Sept. 26.And while the UBC Thunderbirds men’s team won’t be able to attend any of their home nation’s matches, they’ll be returning from the Land of the Rising Sun with some world-class rugby memories of their own.That’s because the ‘Birds […]