Since graduating from Vancouver's Prince of Wales Secondary in 2016, Sadie Wilson has travelled a long volleyball road, including a stop at Vancouver Island University (above) before finally arriving in Abbotsford with the Fraser Valley Cascades. (Photo by Northfield Photography provided courtesy VIU Athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

A Sunday Read: Sadie Wilson’s winding road to the front row signals spike in fortunes as UFV’s volleyball Cascades prep for 2021-22 Canada West debut!

ABBOTSFORD — After years of waiting, Sadie Wilson’s inner volleyball radar is picking up the pulses of positivity.Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say, speaking in the language of her sport, that the 6-foot-1 right-side hitter is sensing a long-anticipated spike in her fortunes.To her, such peaks are welcome, especially when viewed against all of […]

Duchess Park's Caleb Lyons, pictured during the 2020 B.C. Triple-A Final Four Friday at the LEC in March of 2020, will continue his basketball career next season in Nanaimo with the CCAA powerhouse Vancouver Island Mariners. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Varsity Letters’ 15th annual B.C. Recruits List: Please send us the names of our university-bound student-athletes from the Class of 2021!

NORTH DELTA — The B.C. Recruits List turns 15 this year, and based on the events of the past year-plus, I am sure you will agree with me when I say that at no time over that span has it been more important that we acknowledge, in any way possible, our province’s graduating student-athletes.When we […]

Simon Fraser volleyball will return just two seniors for a hopeful 2021-22 GNAC season, and setter Julia Tays (left) and libero Bianca Te have epitomized the character and leadership needed to endure what may well be a near two-year span of inactivity due to the global pandemic. (Photos by Paul Yates property of Simon Fraser athletics 2021. Photo graphic created by Gabriel Lynn. All Rights Reserved.)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

Senior Service: Over a season that never was, Simon Fraser’s duo of Tays and Te kept character at the fore for the sake of the future!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Bianca Te and Julia Tays never doubted they would finish what they started.Yet the two lone returning seniors with the Simon Fraser women’s volleyball team never figured that the toughest test of their NCAA careers atop Burnaby Mountain would be defined by their response to the day-in, day-out grind of not playing.In […]

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)
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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 […]

Terrell Jana of the Virginia Cavaliers brings a pair of sure hands to the CFL next season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. (Photo by Matt Riley property of University of Virginia media relations 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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CFL Draft 2021: A true purist’s receiver, STM grad Jana puts his hands to an ‘instrumental’ test as he prepares for rookie season with ‘Riders!

As a budding musician, Terrell Jana has discovered that striking a chord or two has not only helped relax his mind, but keep his hands dexterous and strong in his endless pursuit of catching the football.Taken on the whole, it’s just another example of the purist’s approach the Burnaby native and Virginia Cavaliers receiver will […]

South Delta's Grant McDonald is moving from the Calgary Dinos to a CFL career in Edmonton. (Photo by David Moll property of Calgary Dinos athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

CFL Draft 2021: For South Delta’s LB duo of McDonald & Moore its Subway Bowl, Vanier Cup and now, separate CFL futures!

At the time, the 2014 edition of the Subway Bowl B.C. high school Triple A champion South Delta Sun Devils showed all the signs of being a very unflappable football team.Of course, with 20/20 hindsight playing in the rearview mirror, a fast-forward to the events of Tuesday night may actually have unfolded without too much […]

UBC linebacker Ben Hladik (top) has been wreaking havoc on the field since the moment he set foot on the Point Grey campus. On Tuesday, the Vernon native became a member of his hometown B.C. Lions. Photo by Richard Lam, UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

CFL Draft 2021: As UBC sends three linebackers to the pros, coach Nill says B.C. Lions got ‘steal of the draft’ in Vernon’s Ben Hladik!

The UBC Thunderbirds have sent players to the Canadian Football League at every position imaginable, yet after Thursday’s draft proceedings were complete, it was pretty hard to not call them Linebacker U.Three Thunderbirds linebackers had their names called, including a homegrown product that UBC head coach Blake Nill could not hold back his praise of.“His […]

The BCSS governance proposal was passed Saturday morning. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. School Sports wins its governance vote: All of the voices weigh in on a tipping-point day in B.C. high school sports history!

B.C. School Sports has won the day, and its executive director says he’s confident the new governance proposal for high school sports in this province — one which unites all 20 of its member sports under one organizational umbrella — will be ready to begin operation, pending green lights from the health sector, this coming […]

B.C. School Sports will hold its AGM on Saturday, at which time its new governance proposal will be put to the vote. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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With pivotal AGM vote set for Saturday, BCTF claims no knowledge of its spot on BC School Sports’ proposed legislative council!

A B.C. high school sports commissioner says he has been stunned by the 11th-hour discovery of what he characterizes as a gross misrepresentation in the lead-up to Saturday’s pivotal vote on B.C. School Sports new governance proposal.Walter van Halst, commissioner of the B.C. Secondary Schools Rugby Union, called it “absolutely shocking” when it was discovered […]

B.C. School Sports offered their response after some big news was revealed Thursday, two days ahead of Saturday's pivotal AGM vote. (Photo property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. School Sports responds to criticism following BC Teachers Federation issue with governance vote fast approaching!

B.C. School Sports was contacted earlier today by Varsity Letters regarding issues stemming from the BCTF and its denial of communication and involvement as one of 10 key stakeholder organizations which would occupy voting seats within the proposed governance’s 54-member legislative assembly.In advance of Saturday’s AGM in which its new governance proposal will be voted […]