With the O'Hagan Field scoreboard behind him telling the story, Vancouver College running back Tommy Carvalho finds the end zone against North Vancouver's Carson Graham Eagles for the first scoring play of not only a new season of B.C. high school football, but the first since the pandemic halted play across our province in all sports in March of 2020. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Varsity Letters’ 09.02.21 B.C. High School Football Report ‘Welcome Back’ edition: No. 1 Fighting Irish top Carson in return-to-play game!

VANCOUVER — In the long history of B.C. high school sports, you won’t find an institution which honours its history, heritage and longevity with more aplomb than Vancouver College.With all of that in mind, as provincial inter-school competition took its first official steps since the beginning of the Covid lockdown in March of 2020 with […]

SFU cornerback Jerrell Cunmmings, pictured during Tuesday's 2021 fall training camp practice at Fox Field, has developed into a game-changing talent within the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

SFU Football opener 2021: Now that he’s turned a corner, Jerrell Cummings is ready to roar as the heart-and-soul leader in Simon Fraser’s defensive secondary!

BURNABY — Jerrell Cummings was all of 17 years of age when he suited up for his first Simon Fraser fall football camp.With the start of the 2021 season coming this Saturday afternoon (1 p.m.) at the FCS Div. 1 Idaho Vandals, it’s amazing when you consider how far, over the course of two adversity-filled […]

The names have changed, but after a cancelled season, Coquitlam's Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils will open the 2021 campaign with the No. 1 ranking at AAA. (File photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Soccer

B.C. boys AAA soccer preseason rankings 2021: Dr. Best’s Blue Devils and Centennial Centaurs push Coquitlam to the front of the pack!

LANGLEY — Classes may not yet be in session, but the upcoming B.C. senior boys high school soccer season is top of mind for those anticipating its return to play in the fall of 2021.As the calendar hits Sept. 1, Varsity Letters presents the B.C. Boys AAA preseason soccer rankings, courtesy of B.C. boys high […]

From a title in 2019 to a No. 1 ranking to start 2021, head coach Todd Bernett and Vancouver College maintain their spot atop the B.C. high school football world. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Varsity Letters’ Big 5 Triple A high school football rankings: ‘Look up, look wayyy up’ at No. 1 Vancouver College and No. 2 Mt. Douglas!

LANGLEY — Back in the late 1960s, at my home in a rural part of North Delta, I’d watch a kid’s show on the CBC called ‘The Friendly Giant’ in which the title character, made to look larger than life by a simple upwards camera pan, would ask his young viewers to ‘Look up… wayyyy […]

Vernon head coach Sean Smith has his AA team ranked No. 1 in Varsity Letters' Big 5 preseason coaches poll. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.com 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Our countdown to kick-off begins! Varsity Letter’s Big 5 B.C. High School Football preseason AA rankings have arrived!

In anticipation of a return to play on the high school football fields this fall, we’ve returned with the first of Varsity’s Letter’s own back-to-back preseason B.C. Big 5 rankings.Today, we will start with the AA ranks, with the AAA to follow in the coming days.Three games are scheduled in the Week 0 window Sept. […]

Mila van der Veen (centre) of the Trinity Western Spartans makes a run past UBC's Josie Claypool (left) and Katalin Tolnai on Monday as the U SPORTS women's soccer season resumed play with an exhibition match in Langley. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Soccer University Women's Soccer

Trinity Western-UBC women’s soccer: “It’s in the blood of the two schools…” True words as third decade of dynastic rivalry opens with 3-3 draw!

LANGLEY — You could say it was a pretty quiet day for the resumption of the greatest rivalry game in the history of U Sports’ women’s soccer.An early-week 5 p.m. start on a day which began with some drizzle, on a campus still weeks from the opening of classes, accompanied by the calendar’s earliest-ever clash […]

Former Simon Fraser and Vancouver College product Rysen John made a trio of catches Saturday as his New York Giants faced the New York Jets in the preseason opener for both teams. (File photo property of USA Today 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

Rysen John’s NFL preseason debut: We go inside the three catches snared Saturday by Simon Fraser’s own New York Giant!

Rysen John’s journey to the NFL has begun its next act, and as part of the en masse opening to the 2021 exhibition season, all of that added up to his first critical reviews on U.S. national television.And for those catching the exploits of the former Simon Fraser University receiver, now doing his thing as […]

After testing the NBA's pre-draft evaluation waters, Utah Valley star and Steveston-London product Fardaws Aimaq announced Wednesday he is pulling out of the 2021 NBA draft in favour of a junior season with the Wolverines over which he hopes to make himself a 2022 NBA first-round pick. (Photo by Isaac Hale property of Utah Valley University marketing 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

‘Daws takes one season pause on NBA draft: Richmond native and Utah Valley star Fardaws Aimaq on why his NBA sights now set on 2022!

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 […]

Here's four of our 1,025 honourees (clockwise from top left): Burnaby Central's Whitecaps' midfielder Aislin Streicek is off to the Alabama Crimson Tide; Middle distance runner Henry Ruckman-Uttig moves from Burnaby's Alpha Secondary to Simon Fraser; Kaila Fong of Vancouver's John Oliver Secondary will shoot hoops in the OUA with Sault Ste. Marie's Algoma University, while Victoria-Oak Bay volleyball hitter Kai Higuchi is off to Toronto to play at Ryerson. (Photos property of Bob Frid (Whitecaps FC) and Wilson Wong 2021. Photo graphic created for Varsity Letter by Gabriel Lynne. All Rights Reserved.)
Feature High School University

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 […]

Designed by Kwantlen First Nations artist Brandon Gabriel and muralist Dean Lauzé, the new Thunderbirds team logo opens a new chapter of student-athlete life at Langley Secondary School. (Logo property Langley Secondary School 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

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 […]