North Delta Huskies boys basketball coach Jesse Hundal speaks about teaching and inspiring during this time of global pandemic. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Varsity Letters PODCAST 05.06.20: ND Huskies coach/teacher Jesse Hundal on educating during a pandemic, the Class of 2020 and the late Brandon Bassi

NORTH DELTA — The Podcast is back. Apologies for our extended absence.   Today, we are joined by Jesse Hundal, a teacher and boys basketball coach at North Delta Secondary School.   Jesse chats openly and positively about the challenges facing both teachers and students these days as the 2019-20 academic year comes to a […]

Rising fifth-year senior setter Zach Wikenheiser will transfer from Lethbridge College to Fraser Valley and close out his university career for a Cascades' team set to make its U Sports debut in 2020-21. (Photo property of Lethbridge College athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball University Men's Volleyball

UFV men’s volleyball: Recruiting in a time of pandemic, Cascades come together sight-unseen for debut 2020-21 Canada West season

ABBOTSFORD — Recruited in the time of COVID-19 by a coach he’s never met, and headed off to a university campus he’s yet to even set foot on?On the basis of those two factors alone, you could correctly assume that Zach Wikenheiser has a lot of things on his mind as he prepares for a […]

UBC's Trivel Pinto (1) is set to catch the offerings of Bo Levi Mitchell after being selected in the second round of the CFL Draft on Thursday by the Calgary Stampeders. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
King George's Nikola Guzina (left) is a 6-foot-8, 205-pound senior who comes to the UBC Thunderbirds as a true five-position player. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Nikola Guzina: With a versatile game that hints at shades of Conor Morgan, UBC inks multi-skilled King George Dragons’ star

VANCOUVER — Ask Nikola Guzina to talk about his rise to prominence on the hardcourt, and the standout incoming recruit of the UBC Thunderbirds proceeds to do so with a nod of thanks to the basketball gods.

Trinity Western point guard Kianna Wiens developed her leadership skills during a character-testing 2019-20 Canada West season. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Trinity Western women’s basketball: Veteran coach Cheryl Jean-Paul keeps her youthful Spartans on a proven path to Canada West success

LANGLEY — There is a virtual mountain of statistical evidence to illustrate just how unforgiving a season the young Trinity Western women’s basketball team endured in 2019-20.The good part for the Spartans is that head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul has been through this tough, early part of the journey before with her program, and its precisely […]

Fraser Valley women's basketball players (left to right) Natalie Rathler, Maddy Gobeil and Lauryn Walker each provided inspirational moments this week as part of the Cascades' week-long virtual climb of Mt. Everest. (Photos by Dan Kinvig property of UFV Athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved. Photo graphic special for Varsity Letters courtesy of Gabriel Lynn)
Feature University Women's Basketball

A Sunday Read: How UFV Cascades’ women’s basketball strengthened its bond on a virtual climb to the top of Mt. Everest!

ABBOTSFORD — Al Tuchscherer was watching the nightly news recently when a story came across the screen which immediately sparked his imagination.“They had a human interest story about this gentleman who I guess always wanted to climb Mt. Everest,” began the head coach of the Fraser Valley Cascades women’s basketball team. “And he decided to take […]

A study in determination over his entire four-year Clan career, SFU's Rysen John signed a contract with the NFL's New York Giants on Sunday. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Rysen John: The Simon Fraser Clan’s pass-catching giant inks contract, set to attend main training camp with the NFL’s New York Giants

BURNABY — Its three-day virtual draft had just ended Saturday afternoon when Rysen John found out that even in these times of global pandemic, nothing has slowed NFL teams from reaching out and finding the best college football talent around.“After the last pick of the draft, I was like, ‘OK, cool,’” said John, the Simon […]

The graphic following his selection during the ESPN/NFL Network-produced coverage of the 2020 NFL draft, broadcast in Canada by TSN, told the story of Chase Claypool's rise from the Abbotsford Panthers to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Feature High School Football University Football

Chase Claypool drafted by Pittsburgh Steelers! Abby/Notre Dame star receiver ready to become a Big Catch for Big Ben!

Chase Claypool’s gridiron journey will move from one fabled football locale to another.Four seasons after Abbotsford’s Big Catch announced himself to the college football world in South Bend, Ind., with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the 6-foot-4, 238-pound receiver is on his way to Steel City for the start of his NFL career with the […]

Simon Fraser rising junior guard Drew Bryson will play a huge role within the team's revamped backcourt rotation. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser men’s basketball 2020-21: As a season of change looms for the Clan, here’s how all the pieces could fit!

BURNABY — You’ve no doubt heard that old cliché which labels a basketball team in transition as one going through a changing of the guard.

Defensive lineman Kaishaun Carter (left) and receiver/return man Jason Soriano are two of B.C.'s blue-chip graduating Class of 2020 set to begin their university football careers next season with the UBC Thunderbirds. (Photos by Howard Tsumura, Varsity Letters, and Richard Lam, UBC athletics. All Rights Reserved. Photo graphic by Gabriel Lynn)
Feature High School Football University Football

A Sunday Read: UBC football coach Blake Nill says Jason Soriano, Kaishaun Carter “…the ones who can make you Coach of the Year”

VANCOUVER — UBC Thunderbirds football in the Blake Nill-era hit its low ebb in 2019, yet four seasons after its rousing, unexpected 2015 Vanier Cup national championship title debut, a second wind has begun to blow through the ranks of the blue and gold.