B.C. high school football saw a big gain in player registration but also a steep decline in its coaching numbers. Is this the new normal? (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Why B.C. high school football’s latest numbers might just be the first barometre of the new normal in our provincial high school sports world!

VANCOUVER — Set against the unpredictable backdrop of a pandemic now just weeks shy of its second birthday in this province, no one can yet fully define what the so-called new normal in B.C. high school sports is going to look like.B.C. high school football, however, released numbers earlier this week which may well provide […]

Heritage Woods' Kate Mean (left) drives against Sir Winston Churchill's Claire Huang during TBI this past December at the Langley Events Centre. The same two teams meet in the opening round of the B.C. Quad-A championships March 2 back at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Follow the B.C. Girls Basketball road map through March Madness: We’ve got the 2A, 3A and 4A tourney draw here!

LANGLEY — The Langley Events Centre will play host to the three largest tiers of B.C. girls high school basketball championships beginning March 2.Love to study the draws?Planning each of your four days at the LEC?Keep coming back for all three provincials draws in one place!QUAD ATRIPLE ADOUBLE AIf you’re reading this story or viewing […]

Generic 1 basketball Shier
(Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Junior Boys Basketball 32-team draw released as B.C. high school basketball’s official championship season prepares itself for Saturday tip-off at the LEC!

LANGLEY — The B.C. high school boys and girls basketball championship season is March Madness defined and it begins Saturday as the B.C. junior boys event tips off at the home of the provincial game: The Langley Events Centre.That signals the start of 12 days of provincial tournaments over a 15-day span: Feb. 26-March 1 […]

Argyle's Nathalie Francis (centre, 22) scored a game-high 24 points, yet Seaquam's Amar Thiara and the rest of Seahawks (pictured here in Dec. 15 game at TBI) rallied to earn a last-ditch berth to the provincials on Tuesday at Port Coquitlam's Riverside Secondary. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Seaquam girls end three decades of Big Dance silence! Comeback win over Argyle in last-chance clash sends Seahawks, along with Yale Lions, into B.C. Quad-A championships!

PORT COQUITLAM — They hadn’t punched their tickets to the Big Dance in so long that even the school’s historians were having a hard time trying to figure out when the last time the senior girls basketball team from Seaquam Secondary last qualified for the B.C. championships.One thing was certain, however, as the fourth-quarter clock […]

Fleetwood Park's Inder Deol (left), and Sir Winston Churchill's Paolo Murphy (21) and Kai O'Donnell have their respective teams pointed towards earning B.C. Quad-A championship berths this weekend. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. boys high school basketball rankings 02.22.22 edition: No. 1’s all hold ground while AAA McMath and AA Windsor take biggest jumps ahead of zone championship week!

LANGLEY — The bookends of Quad- and Single-A remained calm, yet the waters were far from serene within B.C.’s two middle tiers as the senior boys basketball world turned towards, what will be for the most part, its final week of pre-B.C. tournament action.Richmond’s R.A. McMath Wildcats jumped from the honourable mention to No. 7 […]

Grade 10 point guard Ashley Chio has played beyond her years in helping West Vancouver punch its ticket to March Madness. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

The Power of Plaid: In lending a hand to All My Relations indigenous women’s team, Big Dance-bound West Van Highlanders tap a collective vein to their own gritty hearts!

WEST VANCOUVER — A return to the Big Dance for the first time in a quarter century is turning out to be the ultimate win-win for the senior girls basketball team from West Vancouver Secondary School.After all, what head coach doesn’t want their team dialled in with 100 per cent focus, ready to sacrifice for […]

Marah Dykstra has averaged just north of a 20-10 double-double this season for Vancouver's Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Sir Winston’s Churchill’s Marah Dykstra: With D1 career at Montana State awaiting, star senior guard leads Bulldogs back to the Big Dance for first time in five seasons!

VANCOUVER — Ask Marah Dykstra about some of the very best things happening in her life these days, and without taking her eyes off the prize for even a second, she lets you know she’s determined to savour every last moment of her high school basketball career.Of course, following Thursday’s 62-29 victory over the West […]

Prior to officiating a senior boys basketball between host Byrne Creek and St. Patrick's on Feb. 3, 2022, veteran officials Dindo Cobarrubias (left) and Karn Dhillon take a moment to remind everyone of the Pink Whistle Campaign. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

In tough times, BCBOA’s Pink Whistle Campaign hits its all-time high! “Little by little, one whistle at a time, one donation at a time, we’re all making a difference…” says founder Karn Dhillon!

LANGLEY — In the B.C. basketball community, pink whistles attached to the ends of pink lanyards have become the ties that bind… even in the toughest of times.And if you ask Karn Dhillon, the longtime, respected basketball referee, about the Pink Whistle/Call A Foul on Cancer campaign that he launched as an annual February initiative […]

While B.C. senior girls basketball teams, like the Yale Lions and its star guard Maggy Curtis begin their journey to the B.C. championships, the Langley Events Centre is looking to find volunteers to help make the 2022 event a big success. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. senior girls 2021-22 basketball championship tournaments look to fill key volunteer roles, including tournament director!

LANGLEY —  The Langley Events Centre is accepting submissions of interest from individuals interested in volunteering at the 2022 B.C. School Sports Girls Basketball Provincial Championships.LEC is hosting the 2A, 3A, and 4A Tournaments from March 2-5, 2022, and the LEC Tournament Committee is responsible for working with LEC staff towards the planning and execution […]

Just in time for the post-season, Kyle Christofferson (left) and the rest of Richmond's R.A. McMath Wildcats make an appearance as part of the Triple-A poll this week. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. boys high school basketball rankings 02.15.22 edition: Kelowna, The Grove, P-Marg’s Lions, Credo Kodiaks all make big Top 10 moves!

LANGLEY — Just in case you thought it was a given who the top teams at each tier were heading into playoffs, the grind of the season and the overall depth of play reminded us that there is still so much more to be told.Six honourable mention teams from a week ago moved into Top […]