They still have plenty of obstacles to navigate en route to a GNAC volleyball campaign, but Friday's news of a spring season was good news for head coach Gina Schmidt's team, who are savouring their moments to be back in the gym together and training as a team. (Photo by Paul Yates property of SFU athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

Simon Fraser fall sports like volleyball, soccer spring forward to 2021! “We still have that carrot to go after” says SFU coach Gina Schmidt

BURNABY — Simon Fraser University volleyball players know that a lot of things are still going to have to happen in order for some semblance of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference season to unfold in the new year.

This week, the Varsity Letters podcasts welcomes UBC's Wilson Wong and ex-UVic basketball PxP voice Guy MacPherson.
Feature Podcast

09.30.19: Varsity Letters-The Podcast gets historical with UBC’s Wilson Wong, ex-UVic Vikes radio man Guy MacPherson

Varsity Letters — The Podcast is back on the air. Looking back isn’t our usual habit, but with the pandemic shutting down what would normally be a frenetic fall season of high school and university sports, we’re going to be heavy on history this week. UBC’s manager of Sports Information Wilson Wong joins us off […]

The simple idea of collecting memories from its vast tree of alums has helped bring the UBC men's basketball program closer together than ever, despite the global pandemic. Pictured clockwise from bottom left are UBC stars Ron Thorsen (with ball), Paul Johannson and Kevin Hanson, and J.D. Jackson (14). (Photos property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved. Photo collage by Gabriel Lynn)
Feature University Men's Basketball

A Sunday Read: How the storytellers of UBC men’s basketball wrote their own history and strengthened bonds in a time of disconnect!

VANCOUVER — In these most disconnected and fractured of times, when our most basic instinct of reaching out to others in an act of the heart is so often compromised by the frustration of new realities, here is a story about finding connection.“Early in COVID, I would be out on my walks… I was doing […]

She got the ball rolling! Trinity Western's 2004 national championship-winning captain Angela Trauter provides the roots of a Spartans' tree filled with talented midfielders. The youth of the 2020 group has much to glean from its past. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

Happy 20th birthday: At the heart of the park, a youthful Trinity Western women’s midfield has much to glean from its stellar past

LANGLEY — So what’s the commonality that best defines the Trinity Western Spartans’ voluminous streak of 16 straight appearances and counting in the Canada West women’s soccer Final Four championships?As in any kind of anatomical analysis, figurative as this one may be, the place to start is at the heart, or in the case of […]

Last season, in his team's upset win over the UBC Thunderbirds at Envision Athletic Centre, Fraser Valley Cascades' guard Vick Toor led the way with 19 points. In an uncertain 2020-21 season, he is being looked upon as one of the team's foundational players. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

UFV’s Toor de Force! With his deep cache of skills rising to the fore, Cascades’ guard Vick Toor is an anchor in these uncertain times

ABBOTSFORD — His game has always been built around such a diverse package of skills that perhaps it’s taken all of us these past three seasons to appreciate the true depth of his talents.Yet if the practice sessions which have just now begun wind up leading to some semblance of a men’s basketball season in […]

UBC Thunderbirds head coach Blake Nill says a big part of the COVID 19 era in collegiate sports is helping players navigate all the realities of being a student-athlete during these challenging times. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

While smoke-filled air delays UBC football’s first official workout, ‘Birds coach Nill talks a different strategy with players and their families

VANCOUVER — Sitting in his office overlooking Thunderbird Stadium on Tuesday morning, Blake Nill afforded himself a solitary moment to take a deep breath.These days, you can’t take anything for granted.In the midst of the global pandemic, and with its Canada West season already long cancelled, UBC’s veteran head football coach had worked towards Tuesday […]

UBC Thunderbirds' middle distance star Kieran Lumb, a Lord Byng graduate, has transitioned from a national-level cross-coudntry skier (right) to future Olympic hopeful. (Photos by Jeff Sargeant, UBC Athletics and David Lumb. All Right Reserved. Photo graphic by Gabriel Lynn)
Simon Fraser football hit the turf Wednesday, opening up with its first on-field session of the fall under new head coach Mike Rigell. The school's new football fieldhouse complex on Terry Fox Field, nearing completion atop Burnaby Mountain, can be seen in the background. (Photo by Jacob Hall property of Simon Fraser athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

No games for Simon Fraser football, but “…it’s like bricks off our shoulders” says SFU coach Mike Rigell of team’s return to Terry Fox Field

BURNABY — A new head coach, a new stadium, a pending new nickname, and of course, in these times of global pandemic, a new reality of uncertainty in the world of collegiate athletics.

Fraser Valley Cascades central defender Sahib Sidhu has come to represent the true essence of the student-athlete as both a rising star with men's soccer team and a top scholar at the Abbotsford school. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Soccer

He’s a Big’un! Yet these days, it’s not just size and physicality that makes UFV Cascades’ centre back Sahib Sidhu a force to be reckoned with

ABBOTSFORD — His nickname is Big’un, and it’s one that University of the Fraser Valley central defender Sahib Sidhu has worn every bit as naturally as the spacious No. 22 Cascades’ jersey he first pulled on in the fall of 2018.“When they come in as first-years, you look at them and you say ‘That’s a […]

B.C. high school football gets back to the practice field on Sept. 10, but educational cohort rules will force coaches to tackle their game plans in ways that include no tackling. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School

Football practices begin Sept. 10, yet the 2020-21 B.C. high school sports season sits in idle as community/club counterparts gain traction

Despite a future chalk full of unknowns, the 2020-21 B.C. high school sports season will have its official opening a week from this Thursday.On Sept. 10, high school football teams are allowed to begin practicing, and although it will all happen under the most restrictive of conditions, hope remains eternal that in the midst of […]