Mila van der Veen (centre) of the Trinity Western Spartans makes a run past UBC's Josie Claypool (left) and Katalin Tolnai on Monday as the U SPORTS women's soccer season resumed play with an exhibition match in Langley. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Soccer University Women's Soccer

Trinity Western-UBC women’s soccer: “It’s in the blood of the two schools…” True words as third decade of dynastic rivalry opens with 3-3 draw!

LANGLEY — You could say it was a pretty quiet day for the resumption of the greatest rivalry game in the history of U Sports’ women’s soccer.An early-week 5 p.m. start on a day which began with some drizzle, on a campus still weeks from the opening of classes, accompanied by the calendar’s earliest-ever clash […]

Simon Fraser returning quarterbacks Justin Seiber (left) and Brandon Niksich are setting a tone of togetherness as they battle it out for the GNAC team's starting quarterback job. (Photos by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

SFU Football 2021: In its return-to-play GNAC season, classy duelling QB-1s Seiber and Niksich keep shared focus on team fortunes!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — It’s a vast understatement to say that a lot has happened since the last time the football team at Simon Fraser University found itself in the day-to-day preparations associated with the run-up to a season-opening game.It’s also the best way to set the scene for the NCAA’s only non-U.S. school, which as […]

Former Simon Fraser and Vancouver College product Rysen John made a trio of catches Saturday as his New York Giants faced the New York Jets in the preseason opener for both teams. (File photo property of USA Today 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

Rysen John’s NFL preseason debut: We go inside the three catches snared Saturday by Simon Fraser’s own New York Giant!

Rysen John’s journey to the NFL has begun its next act, and as part of the en masse opening to the 2021 exhibition season, all of that added up to his first critical reviews on U.S. national television.And for those catching the exploits of the former Simon Fraser University receiver, now doing his thing as […]

After testing the NBA's pre-draft evaluation waters, Utah Valley star and Steveston-London product Fardaws Aimaq announced Wednesday he is pulling out of the 2021 NBA draft in favour of a junior season with the Wolverines over which he hopes to make himself a 2022 NBA first-round pick. (Photo by Isaac Hale property of Utah Valley University marketing 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

‘Daws takes one season pause on NBA draft: Richmond native and Utah Valley star Fardaws Aimaq on why his NBA sights now set on 2022!

Fardaws Aimaq is coming back to college, and he’s smiling wide because he’s doing so with a whole lot of NBA knowledge.The 6-foot-11 Richmond native and reigning NCAA Div. 1 rebounding champion this past season at Utah Valley University had announced back in early April that he would be testing the NBA’s demanding pre-draft waters […]

Here's four of our 1,025 honourees (clockwise from top left): Burnaby Central's Whitecaps' midfielder Aislin Streicek is off to the Alabama Crimson Tide; Middle distance runner Henry Ruckman-Uttig moves from Burnaby's Alpha Secondary to Simon Fraser; Kaila Fong of Vancouver's John Oliver Secondary will shoot hoops in the OUA with Sault Ste. Marie's Algoma University, while Victoria-Oak Bay volleyball hitter Kai Higuchi is off to Toronto to play at Ryerson. (Photos property of Bob Frid (Whitecaps FC) and Wilson Wong 2021. Photo graphic created for Varsity Letter by Gabriel Lynne. All Rights Reserved.)
Feature High School University

The Varsity Letters’ 2020-21 B.C. Recruits List: Find out where 1,036 student-athletes are headed to play and study next season!

(Note to readers – Since our June 26 publication, we have made 11 more additions, so thank you to loyal readers for your imput. All numbers in the actual story have been updated to reflect those changes.We’re always open to anyone we may have missed. The adds have all been in women’s sports: Nine in […]

Your author and Recruits List contributor Wilson Wong are hoping to once again break past the 1,000-name mark as the 15th annual B.C. Recruits List works towards a June 26th publication date. (Photo courtesy Blair Shier 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School University

As our B.C. Recruits List preps for June 26 publication, my hat tips to faithful correspondents far & wide, and to B.C.’s amazing grad Class of 2021!

Dear loyal readers!Just wanted to take the time to let you all know why the main page at Varsity Letters as been so quiet over this past week.In a nutshell, your faithful author has been hard at work fact-checking, spell-checking and re-formatting the mountain of names which have been submitted as part of our 15th […]

Trinity Western freshman guard Shemaiah Abatayo was forced to hit the court running this season after six straight months of COVID lockdown in the Philippines kept her out of B.C. from March through August. (Photo by Mark Janzen property of Trinity Western athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

Shemaiah Abatayo: As Trinity Western’s ‘rookie’ guard preps for a hopeful 2021-22 re-start, she dishes on six months of COVID-forced lockdown in the Philippines!

LANGLEY — Shemaiah Abatayo, like the rest of Canada’s hard-luck Class of 2020 university freshmen recruits, will get a second chance to make a rookie impression when U Sports basketball courts flash their figurative green lights this coming fall.Nothing could have beaten the on-court experience that a 2020-21 Canada West season would have provided Abatayo […]

Jayden White of the Yale Lions has overcome the odds to rebound from injury and find a place next season at the University of Alberta. In Edmonton, she will play hoops, major in education and continue her studies in American Sign Language. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

Jayden White: Special signs along the way speak the truth of compassion, tenacity Yale Lions forward carries to Alberta Pandas!

ABBOTSFORD — Ask Jayden White what it means for her to have walked the walk through a star-crossed high school basketball career, and she’ll show you this photo of the inside of a Gatorade bottle cap containing the bone chips surgeons extricated from her knee back in 10th grade.“The biggest one is the size of […]

It's been tough for high school recruits in the Class of 2021 to find places on college and university teams, yet Brookswood's Quinn Jasper and Harrison Robinson of Lord Byng have landed with Douglas College and Langara respectively. (Photos property of Howard Tsumura and Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball University Women's Basketball

“They need to be really persistent…” B.C. high school Class of 2021 grads in tough to find spots on crowded university & college rosters!

VANCOUVER — What’s the toughest challenge for a talented B.C. high school basketball player looking to continue his or her career as a student-athlete this coming season at the college or university level?How about simply finding a place to play?Student-athletes from B.C.’s hard-luck Class of 2021 have not only lost their entire senior season of […]

After a running career spent climbing to the top of the mountain, Lindsey Butterworth, Simon Fraser's former NCAA champion 800m runner, today sits on the precipice of qualifying for this summer's Tokyo Olympic Games. (Photo by KK Law property of Grand Uproar Marketing Company 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Track and Field

A Saturday Salute: In a time of tumult, quiet miles and a quiet mind keep Simon Fraser grad Lindsey Butterworth focused on her bid for Tokyo Olympics!

BURNABY — Lindsey Butterworth has always been good at putting in the quiet miles.Now, as she navigates the unpredictable homestretch of her bid to qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the North Vancouver native knows it’s just as important to maintain a quiet mind.“If you look at the big picture… start to look at […]