The North Delta senior Huskies pose 50 years ago today with the spoils of victory. (Photo courtesy BCHSBBA 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Fifty years ago today, North Delta’s basketball Huskies became B.C.’s first-ever dual junior and senior boys champions

Fifty years ago today, on March 27, 1971, a pioneering double-double took place on the hardcourt at the Pacific Coliseum when the North Delta Huskies became the first boys basketball program in B.C. history to win both the junior and senior provincial crowns in the same season.The sweep was completed when the Huskies defeated the […]

Sir Winston Churchill's Marah Dykstra will help lead her team as one of the new additions to the 20-team field at the 2021 Tsumura Basketball Invitational at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

Tsumura Basketball Invitational: Churchill, Seaquam, SMUS join girls draw as boys, girls 40-team field now official for December 2021!

LANGLEY — We are thrilled with the 40 teams who have now finalized their participation in this coming December’s 2021 boys and girls Tsumura Basketball Invitationals at the Langley Events Centre.(The full list of finalized teams is included at the bottom of this story)Yet what has us even more excited is the response we have […]

Anthony Luyken and his daughter Aieisha. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of UFV athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

The Luyken Legacy: For UFV’s father-daughter duo of Anthony & Aieisha, building community through basketball is a lifelong calling!

ABBOTSFORD — Anthony and Aieisha Luyken are a father and daughter with a most special tie to the sport of basketball.Today, Varsity Letters is happy to help share, through the efforts of one of our founding partners, the Fraser Valley Cascades, the story of their incredible, life-defining love affair with the sport and its impact […]

As the final second ticks off the clock, Sasha Vujisic (right) and the rest of the Burnaby South Rebels culminate the 2019-20 season as B.C. champs. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School

A SUNDAY READ: What both sides are saying in the emotional debate regarding BC School Sports’ proposal for a new power structure in BC high school sports!

LANGLEY — Varsity Letters is presenting both sides of the debate leading up to the pivotal voting day on B.C. School Sports’ pioneering governance proposal, set for the association’s May 1 annual general meeting.If passed by a two-thirds majority plus-one vote of the province’s eligible base of 460-plus athletic directors, all 19 of BCSS’ member […]

Kelowna's Micah Borne. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. Boys Quad-A tip sheet: Star-studded and ready for 2021-22, here’s our look at 15 top rising seniors to watch!

The quietest Championship Saturday in the history of B.C. boys high school basketball has arrived.And while we have no actual games to celebrate, we can still celebrate the game itself and the resilience it has shown en route to a comeback in 2021-22.Today, to cap two straight weeks of looking ahead to some of next […]

Duchess Park's Cole Laing. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. boys Triple-A tip sheet: Here’s our look at 15 top rising seniors to watch as our 2021-22 hoops tip-off now officially on the clock!

Welcome back to our unofficial countdown to the start of the 2021-22 B.C. senior boys basketball season.In a normal year, we would all have our eyes trained on the Langley Events Centre for Final Four Friday.Instead, our first cancelled provincials leaves us looking for more.Today, Varsity Letters is honoured to present its list of 15 […]

King George's Max Astak is a player to watch in 2020-21. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Part 1: B.C. Boys Basketball Players to Watch in 2021-22! Double-A, Single A plus rising Grade 11 talent at Quad-, Triple- and Double-A tiers!

Today, with three more official days official pondering remaining in a 2020-21 B.C. senior boys basketball season that wasn’t, we begin a three-day countdown of sorts.From today through Saturday, Varsity Letters will reveal  the Players to Watch in 2021-22 with our back-to-back-to-back tip sheets, compiled by a committee of B.C. Boys High School Basketball Association coaches, […]

North Vancouver's Robert Sacre has returned from an NBA and international playing career to begin his foray into basketball management with the CEBL's Fraser Valley Bandits. (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Robert Sacre: Energized by his Gonzaga/Lakers past, Fraser Valley Bandits’ new assistant GM makes a hoops homecoming!

He attended Vancouver Grizzlies games as a kid, then went on to play in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers.And through it all, it’s hard to think of anyone who has more passionately repped B.C.’s Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley regions as rightful professional basketball territory than Robert Sacre.With all of that in mind, […]

Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

VL Podcast 03.10.21: Simon Fraser coach Steve Hanson reflects on what March Madness means to him, including a thrilling B.C. AAA title in 2012 at Terry Fox!

Welcome back to Varsity Letters-The Podcast! This week, as the Langley Events Centre re-plays classic B.C. boys basketball championship finals, we have a guest who has coached in one of the most memorable finishes ever. Before he assumed the head role with SFU men’s basketball in 2016-17, Steve Hanson was the co-coach of the Terry […]

Sage Stobbart has carved out her niche as one of the top defenders in the Big West Conference. (Photo by Mark Honbo property of UC Davis athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

Sage Stobbart: Seycove’s former B.C. AA MVP turns her shot-blocking/three-point shooting skills into a sweet science with D1 UC Davis Aggies!

As an environmental sciences major at UC Davis, Sage Stobbart is gaining an ecological understanding that makes her feel more at home than ever in the great outdoors.Yet ask the redshirt junior forward about the other side of her life as a student-athlete, that of the agile and versatile 6-foot-3 junior forward with the Aggies’ […]