BURNABY — Unlike all of the traditional varsity teams competing for Simon Fraser University, their schedule is not built around home and road games, or geared towards the goal of competing in conference championships.Unknown to the vast majority of its own student body, they in fact do their best work while donning the civilian garb […]
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VL Podcast 11.03.20: Terry Fox hoops coach Mark Prinster re-visits B.C.’s Golden Age of 1A-2A basketball (1986-95)!
PORT COQUITLAM — What were the days of B.C. boys high school basketball like in the late 1980s and early 1990s, especially outside of the largest tier of competition? Terry Fox Ravens’ senior boys basketball co-coach Mark Prinster joins host Howard Tsumura on this week’s Varsity Letters podcast to reflect on what now looks like […]
Simon Fraser men’s basketball: An ‘attitude of gratitude’ remains their daily motto as 2020-21 season hangs by a thread
BURNABY — Simon Fraser basketball still has about two weeks to wait before it learns whether or not it will be able to beat the odds and have some semblance of a conference basketball schedule.That said, the odds seem longer than a full-court Hail, Mary prayer to beat the buzzer at the team’s West Gym […]
Who’s the kid on the corner? Hard luck shrouds Notre Dame Jugglers’ senior DB Antonio Cusati in anonymity, yet he is one to watch
BURNABY — Antonio Cusati is the cornerback who has been there and back.And if you’re wondering right about now just why his football journey is best described without longitudes, latitudes and the usual wash of statistics that best define a high school career, it’s because hard luck has made the Notre Dame Jugglers’ senior a […]
VL podcast 10.28.20 edition: St. Thomas More teacher/coach and podcaster Aaron Mitchell takes us on ‘A Hoops Journey’
Welcome to the Varsity Letters podcast for Wednesday, Oct. 28. Our guest this week might be the only person to have led a B.C. senior boys basketball team to a provincial title as a head coach, while also having played in a B.C. senior boys hoops varsity final, a CCAA national final, and a U […]
VL Podcast 10.21.20: TWU hoops coach Cheryl Jean-Paul on Spartans’ Super Conference & holistic needs of coaches, athletes during COVID-19
Trinity Western Spartans’ women’s basketball coach Cheryl Jean-Paul checks in with host Howard Tsumura this week to chat about her school’s 2020 Leadership Super Conference, a remote event set to stream this Friday (full details at gospartansca). The focus this year, in this time of global pandemic, has shifted even more squarely on the holistic […]
Will B.C. high schools play? Holy Cross AD Matt LeChasseur puzzled by ‘discrepancy’ between community and high school sports
SURREY — Matt LeChasseur has trumpeted the hard work and the co-operation of everyone who has played a role in helping get children safely back into their classrooms this fall amidst the global pandemic.
A SUNDAY READ: Banking their Euros! Postmarked ‘Abby, BC’, UFV’s teen duo of Tuchscherer & Gobeil find their bounce with overseas pro careers
ABBOTSFORD — It was a basketball migration along a flight path neither could have ever anticipated just a handful of months ago.Yet this past Thursday, as both U SPORTS and its conference affiliate, Canada West, announced the official cancellation of the remainder of the 2020-21 university sports season (including basketball) due to the ongoing virulence […]
VL Podcast 10.15.20 edition: Abby football coach Jay Fujimura chats about Chase Claypool’s NFL success with the Pittsburgh Steelers
Welcome back to another edition of the Varsity Letters podcast! This week we welcome Abbotsford Secondary head football coach Jay Fujimura to chat about the record-setting weekend enjoyed by former Panthers’ great Chase Claypool. The four touchdowns Claypool scored for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their win over the Philadelphia Eagles represented a landmark moment […]
Chase Claypool: How four games from his standout 2015 senior season at Abby Senior left the clues which have now become conclusive with Steelers Nation!
ABBOTSFORD — Watching the breakthrough game of Chase Claypool’s young NFL career this past Sunday proved to be a prideful moment for John Barsby head football coach Rob Stevenson, despite the fact that back in 2015, his Bulldogs found themselves on the wrong end of a season-ending playoff loss fuelled by a performance many agree […]