Feature Podcast

10.07.20: Varsity Letters-The Podcast salutes Worlds Teachers Day! Longtime teacher-coaches join Tsumura in saluting our classroom mentors!

Hey, it’s Howard and welcome to another episode of Varsity Letters—The Podcast.   Today we open the show with a short tribute to the late Karin Khuong from Mike Carkner, one of her basketball coaches at Terry Fox Secondary in PoCo. Khuong, 16, lost a two-year battle with cancer on Sunday. The theme of the […]

Terry Fox's Karin Khuong lost her battle with cancer on Sunday at age 16. Despite a recurrence of her illness in January, she still mustered the strength to join her team on the floor at the B.C. AAA championships this past February. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Terry Fox’s Karin Khuong loses two-year battle with cancer, coach Carkner says her “courageous, fearless” influence continues to propel her Ravens

PORT COQUITLAM — Karin Khuong’s indomitable spirit has always been a vital part of the DNA of the Terry Fox Ravens’ senior girls basketball team.

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)
R.A. McMath's Travis Hamberger (left), here being defended by Centennial's Leif Skelding at the 2018 B.C. Junior Varsity championship tournament, will lead his Wildcats into the 2020 TBI this coming December. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

TBI Boys 2020: With a plethora of positivity and plenty of warm hoops karma, B.C.’s best accept invites for an early-season date at the LEC!

NORTH DELTA — Jesse Davis. Everett Swaim. Justin Sunga. Bobby Mabeny. KC Ibekwe. Ben Manns. Caleb Lyons. Rav Randhawa. Clay Kurtz. Karn Shergill. Rourke MacDonald. Travis Hamberger. Gyan Sandhu. Rhys Maestre. Milan John. Daniel Marcelo. Ekman Sohal. Arars Jahangiri. Jaydan Bains. Kyle Kong.

Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers' rising senior guard Alyza Aikins will lead her team into the 2020 Tsumura Basketball Invitational this December at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Twenty teams for TBI 2020! Our roster for the annual senior girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational features B.C.’s best of the best!

LANGLEY — Our collective fingers are crossed with the hope that a safe fall and winter season is on the horizon for high school sports in the province of B.C.And in the spirit of that positivity, we hope that one of the final highlights of a challenging 2020 calendar year will be the latest edition of […]

Abbotsford's Karn Brar (right) is guarded by Yale's Reid Lowen during the East Valley Quad-A zone championship game Feb. 23 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. Boys Championships 2020: Who’s in the toughest quadrant across all four tiers? It’s Abby-Terry Fox, Van College-Fleetwood Park

LANGLEY — The toughest overall quadrant across all four tiers of competition at the 2020 B.C. senior boys basketball championships belongs to a quartet of teams who have been provincially ranked or owned honourable mention status for the entire season.

The Terry Fox Ravens celebrate a win over Yale and a berth in Saturday's B.C. senior girls AAAA finals against Semiahmoo. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Merton’s back-to-back coast-to-coast lay-ups spur Terry Fox’s late 10-0 run, Ravens top Yale in Final Four to draw Totems in Quad-A final!

LANGLEY — It was a basketball game whose flow, while filled with pace, seemed to be playing out as if being held on a short leash.No big swings either way, buckets being answered with buckets, stops being answered by stops. You know the drill.But then, midway through the fourth quarter, like something that just fell […]

Despite a reoccurrence of her cancer, Terry Fox's Karin Khuong took to the court with her Terry Fox teammates on Wednesday as the B.C. championships opened at the LEC. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Terry Fox’s Karin Khuong calls seeing action with her Ravens’ teammates at BC’s vs. John Oliver: “A special moment to be on the court”

NO. 2 TERRY FOX 69, NO. 15 JOHN OLIVER 37By Dan Kinvig (Special to Varsity Letters)LANGLEY — Sometimes, a simple game of basketball carries profound meaning that extends well beyond the final score.For the No. 15-seeded John Oliver Jokers, simply taking the court at the LEC on Wednesday was a matter of significance.The Vancouver program […]

Centennial Centaurs head coach Gordon Betcher accepts the spoils of victory in 1972 after a win over the North Delta Huskies. (Photo property of the B.C. High School Boys Basketball Association 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

The 75th anniversary Diamond draw hits the Final Four! Kaz, Disbrow, Putzi, Betcher, Bradley and Parmar all share their thoughts on B.C. hoops history!

NORTH DELTA — As our Elite Eight round rolled around this week, and the committee entrusted with selecting the winners in our 75th anniversary B.C. high school boys basketball all-time tournament bracket delivered their latest set of verdicts, I knew it was time to pick up the phone and talk with some of the people […]

UFV senior Matt Cooley has overcome the odds to help lead his Cascades on a run into the Canada West post-season. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

UFV’s Matt Cooley: How a basketball underdog with a passion for passing delivered his signature senior season

(Due to technical difficulties encountered here at VarsityLetters.ca over the past two weeks, several stories, including this one, had not been posted here on our main site, which is now back to being fully operational as of Feb. 17, 2020. We thank you for your patience and your continued loyalty to B.C.’s most trusted source for […]