VANCOUVER — I can still remember the day that the late, great Jim Taylor, the newspaper sports columnist of my youth and later a co-worker at The Province newspaper, invited me over to his Vancouver home so that I might conduct an interview for a feature story I wanted to write on him for my […]
High School Boys Basketball
“Ty has one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever coached!” High praise as Walnut Grove’s Rowell drops 32 points in Cal Baptist’s OT loss to USC Trojans
Longtime followers of the B.C. high school basketball scene will remember how Ty Rowell had a penchant for sinking baskets that could take your breath away.On Wednesday, however, as the NCAA Div. 1 college hoops season continued its run of season-opening games, Rowell turned the trick on his biggest stage yet.Almost a full year after […]
‘Your Coach Forever’: Tupper basketball’s Jeff Gourley on what needs to happen now to insure the future vitality of B.C. high school sports in the post-pandemic era
EAST VANCOUVER — If you’ve ever ventured into a gymnasium on the opening night of the B.C. high school basketball season — as a player, coach or spectator — you can attest to the fact that there is a feeling in the air as palpably uplifting as the one you feel on its final day.Sure, […]
Climbing Jacob’s Ladder! VC Fighting Irish big man Jacob Holt stokes Santa Clara’s gilded B.C. tradition! Broncos get another one of our very best!
VANCOUVER — Jacob Holt admits he was originally leaning towards playing his university basketball in Canada.One day over this past summer, however, Vancouver College’s then-rising 6-foot-9 senior forward decided to test the waters with a highlight tape he’d put together all by himself.“I probably got 40 calls… it was surreal,” the affable Holt recounted Wednesday. […]
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 […]
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.
Carlo Muro: “Oh hamburger, I gotta go!” After a near half-century as a teacher-coach, one of B.C.’s best takes retirement with no regrets
PORT COQUITLAM — Anthony Ciolfitto asked a simple question, yet the answer he received spoke volumes about one of the most enduring teacher-coaches in B.C. high school sports history.“It was maybe four years ago, and he and I were having a conversation about retirement,” the former principal at Riverside Secondary remembers of a casual chat […]
Suraj Gahir: The ex-Huskies star, stronger and wiser, set to pay heartfelt homage to his North Delta neighbourhood when NCAA Div. 1 career begins at Cal Baptist
NORTH DELTA — No one can escape a future full of unknowns, especially these days, but the best way to brace for its inevitable challenges as you set out on a journey is to gain strength from the collective embrace of the neighbourhood which helped define you.For North Delta Secondary’s 2019 grad Suraj Gahir, such […]
Three for the show! Abby Panthers’ rare hoops trio of Jalem Catlin, Marley Edwards & Josiah Levale embark on U Sports careers in football, soccer, rugby!
ABBOTSFORD — Greg DeVries is some 30 years into a life of meaningful basketball games and practices, and as such, the head coach of the senior boys varsity at Abbotsford Secondary knows just how special and rare the make-up of his 2019-209 Panthers actually was by asking himself a simple question.
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.