UBC Thunderbirds head coach Blake Nill feels that if given a safe environment with which to play, that 2020 could be the year that the Shrum Bowl returns after a 10 year absence. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
There is still hope that players like Fraser Valley Cascades' rising second-year forward Katie Lampen (right) and the rest of the B.C.-based teams in the Canada West women's and men's soccer worlds will be able to play meaningful exhibitions later this fall, if the environment is deemed safe by provincial health, as well as university authorities. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football University Women's Soccer

Despite a cancelled fall season, B.C.’s Canada West schools keep alive hopes of meaningful inter-province competition!

The Canada West’s fall sports season may have been officially cancelled Monday due to the COVID-19 pandemic, yet some coaches and administrators from the conference’s B.C.-member schools seemed united in their hopeful belief that with a continued flattening of the curve throughout the summer months and all the appropriate green lights flashing, that its core […]

Terry Fox's Jaden Severy (right, 23) rushed for 274 yards and three touchdowns back in November of 2018, during the early stages of a Subway Bowl playoff win over Carson Graham played at Simon Fraser's own Terry Fox Field. Severy will suit up for the Clan in 2020. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
UBC Thunderbirds track and field coach Laurier Primeau. (Photo by Jeff Sargeant property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Track & Field University Track and Field

Varsity Letters podcast 06.04.20 edition: UBC Thunderbirds track and field coach Laurier Primeau on the power of sport to effect positive change

Welcome to the Varsity Letters podcast for Thursday, June 4.  Today we welcome UBC Thunderbirds head track and field coach Laurier Primeau back to the podcast to chat about the state of the sport and the loss of the spring season following his program’s dual win at the 2019 NAIA national championships. Laurier also reflects […]

Eric Hamber's Luke Lee (left) and Mathis Henderson are the first Griffins recruited to join university football programs since Vancouver's Griffins started their own high school program from scratch back in 2010. (Photos courtesy UBC Football and Eric Hamber Athletics copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

Eric Hamber’s gridiron pioneers! UBC-bound Luke Lee, Bishop’s-bound Mathis Henderson are Griffins’ first-ever university football recruits

VANCOUVER — They have spent the past decade as Vancouver’s only public high school football program, and now, the Eric Hamber Griffins are taking the next step in their gridiron evolution.For the first time since planting roots as a start-up junior varsity program in 2010, followed by a debut senior varsity season in 2011, the […]

Handsworth's head coach Randy Storey trumpets the leadership skills of graduating senior forward George Horn, who will play for the OUA's Western Mustangs this coming season. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

George Horn: Leadership, confidence blossom from within as Handsworth’s B.C. 4A all-star forward charts course for OUA’s Western Mustangs

NORTH VANCOUVER — If you saw George Horn doing his thing in the paint this past March during the B.C. senior boys Quad-A basketball championships at the Langley Events Centre, from those outstretched arms down to the solid base of that 6-foot-8 frame, his presence seemed to mimic that of a mighty oak tree.

Following championship careers at Burnaby South, the basketball recruiting road has brought Rebels' stars Jusuf Sehic (left) and Sasha Vujisic to Kamloops' Thompson Rivers WolfPack for the 2020-21 Canada West season. (Photos by Wilson Wong property of UBC Athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

A northern migration: Why Burnaby South’s Vujisic and Sehic seem a perfect fit in their hoops reunion with Kamloops’ TRU WolfPack

BURNABY — Back in 2018, over a precious few weeks of March Madness, Jusuf Sehic and Sasha Vujisic wrote one heck of a first chapter together on the basketball court.It was a budding storyline, co-penned between a pair of Burnaby South Secondary stars, which seemed to cry out for more.After all, when was the last […]

Joe Enevoldson, coming off a 17-1 PacWest season with the Douglas College Royals, was last week named the new head coach of the Fraser Valley Cascades' men's team. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Vancouver College's Jason Soriano will run track and catch footballs this coming season for the UBC Thunderbirds. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved).
Feature High School University

Varsity Letters’ 15th annual B.C. Recruits list! Send us your name if you’re a university-bound student-athlete in our B.C. grad Class of 2020!

Hello B.C high school student-athletes, as well as your parents, and the entire community of coaches, athletic directors and administrators around our great province.It’s time to begin compiling the 14th annual Varsity Letters’ B.C. Recruits List, a project which had its genesis back in the spring of 2006 when I worked at The Province newspaper.Each […]

Enriched by a basketball heritage which not only includes the game's inventor James Naismith, but also the likes of former SFU Clan star Jay Triano (left) and the late Handsworth Royals' icon Quinn Keast, high school basketball players in the province of B.C. have plenty of inspiration with which to work on their games despite the challenges brought on by COVID-19. (Photos property of Simon Fraser Athletics and Blair.photo (Blair Shier) 2020. All Rights Reserved. Photo graphic created by Gabriel Lynn)
Feature High School University

B.C. coaches say “…basketball is going back to being about you and a hoop” How to summon your inner-Naismith in a time of social distancing

NORTH DELTA — What defines a self-made athlete?As the 2019-20 B.C. high school basketball season was coming to an end last March, just days ahead of a province-wide COVID-19 shutdown, it was certainly not a topic I spent much time pondering.Yet some two months later, I can say with great confidence that it has emerged […]