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 […]
Author: Howard Tsumura
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 […]
A nickname that stands for inclusivity: Langley Thunderbirds strive to represent school’s own ‘diverse huddle’ heading into Sept. 10 opener vs. Mission!
There’s somewhere north of a few thousand new stories set to be written this coming September when, as prevailing hope and logic suggest, the heartbeat of the B.C. high school sports world rediscovers its healthy pulse following what will have been 18 straight months of silence.And wherever you may care to start, the high school […]
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 […]
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: 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 […]
Farhan Lalji: As the New West Hyacks’ football founder bids adieu, his charter words from 2003 continue to speak an essential & universal truth!
“One of the parents of a player came up to me and said, ‘You’ve basically given my son his life back because this has helped motivate him in so many other areas.’ I don’t take myself seriously enough to think that it’s because of me, but it is because of this whole package that we’ve […]
“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 […]
Adversity’s award: Why the Tessa Beauchamp Scholarships mean so much more to B.C. high school’s courageous Class of 2021!
SURREY — For almost a decade, it has distinguished itself as a memorial scholarship by asking its many Grade 12 student applicants to ponder a question so deeply understood by its namesake.And when you very fittingly digest that same question these days, over the final weeks of the most challenging of school years, it’s hard […]
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 […]