UBC linebacker Ben Hladik doing what he does best against the Alberta Golden Bears. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

Big Ben’s time: UBC’s Ben Hladik, part of ‘Birds star-studded linebacker class, stops at nothing to impress pro football scouts!

Everything you may have already imagined about the voluminous work ethic of UBC Thunderbirds’ starting middle linebacker Ben Hladik is true.And in case you had any doubt, there’s nothing like a first-hand account from an otherwise non-descript day in the dead of winter, when no one was supposed to be watching, to stoke the fires […]

UBC softball head coach Gord Collings celebrates with Emily Chorpita during 2018 game at Surrey's Softball City. At age 71, the tireless guiding light of Thunderbirds softball eagerly awaits a return to play for his team after two lost seasons. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Softball

A Sunday Read: For UBC softball’s Gord Collings, coaching roots run deep… from 1970s into his 70s! Next, his ‘Birds come home to new campus digs at Collings Field!

VANCOUVER — It was just this past Wednesday that UBC Thunderbirds softball players Mia Valcke and Avery Hilpert set off on foot from their residence for a stroll down to Wesbrook Village on the south side of the sprawling Point Grey campus.The two will tell you that the purpose of their mission was to check […]

Former Semiahmoo star Adam Paige has risen above the pack with the Alberta Golden Bears. This summer, the Surrey native will play professionally for the Fraser Valley Bandits. (Photo property University of Alberta athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Adam Paige: He’s Alberta’s rising hoops leader, and now Fraser Valley Bandits pro stint will make ex-Semiahmoo Totems star even better!

In one manner of speaking, you can say that Adam Paige can’t wait to write the next chapter of his basketball story.Yet in another, it’s not a stretch to say that by getting a chance to play professionally in the midst of his university career with the Alberta Golden Bears, that the 6-foot-8 Semiahmoo Totems […]

UBC's Grant Audu was drafted by the CEBL's Fraser Valley Bandits on Wednesday, and will sandwich in a pro season this summer in Abbotsford before returning to War Gym a seasoned vet this fall. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Grant Audu: UBC basketball’s rising leader vows to soak up his pro experience with the Fraser Valley Bandits

VANCOUVER — There is so much that Grant Audu can do on a basketball court, that for his entire university career, he’s been cast in a series of demanding roles.The UBC Thunderbirds’ rising fourth-year forward has not only made each of those his own, in the process of doing so he’s shown himself to be […]

As a sophomore this past season with the WAC's Utah Valley Wolverines, SLSS grad Fardaws Aimaq led NCAA Div. 1 rebounding at 15.0 per game. (Photo by Jay Drowns property of Utah Valley University Marketing 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Fardaws Aimaq to test the waters of the 2021 NBA Draft! For Steveston-London grad and NCAA’s No. 1 rebounder it’s a win-win situation!

RICHMOND — NCAA Div. 1 basketball’s most prodigious single-season rebounder in over 40 years is set to test the waters leading up to the 2021 NBA Draft, this season scheduled for July 29 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.Richmond native Fardaws Aimaq, the 6-foot-11, 245 pound rising redshirt junior centre with the Utah Valley University Wolverines, who […]

G.W. Graham's 6-foot-2 forward Julia Tuchscherer (left) will graduate a year ahead of schedule and join her dad Al and older sister Deanna with the Fraser Valley Cascades next season. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong photography 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

Post-marked UFV: How GWG Grizzlies’ Grade 11 post Julia Tuchscherer will pivot into the paint with U Sports’ Cascades next season!

ABBOTSFORD — For about as long as Julia Tuchscherer can remember, she’s had a knack for making all of the numbers add up.She’s even done it in these challenging times, heading down the home stretch of her Grade 11 year at Chilliwack’s G.W. Graham Secondary with a 4.0 grade point average within a core of […]

Simon Fraser women's head basketball coach Bruce Langford has already seen the impact of his program's recently-launched IMPACT Mentorship Program, one which has involved past and current players like (left to right) Laura van den Boogaard, Georgia Swant and Brittany Fraser. (Photo graphic by Gabriel Lynn property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

A Sunday Read: SFU women’s basketball celebrates the power of connection, uniting past and present through its IMPACT mentorship program!

BURNABY — There are many variations of the parable which informs us that in learning we teach, and that in teaching we learn.Boil those words down to their essence, however, and what remains is the singular feeling of a journey coming full circle.Laura Kalenuik, née van den Boogaard, like so many other former student-athletes, has […]

Anthony Luyken and his daughter Aieisha. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of UFV athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

The Luyken Legacy: For UFV’s father-daughter duo of Anthony & Aieisha, building community through basketball is a lifelong calling!

ABBOTSFORD — Anthony and Aieisha Luyken are a father and daughter with a most special tie to the sport of basketball.Today, Varsity Letters is happy to help share, through the efforts of one of our founding partners, the Fraser Valley Cascades, the story of their incredible, life-defining love affair with the sport and its impact […]

North Vancouver's Robert Sacre has returned from an NBA and international playing career to begin his foray into basketball management with the CEBL's Fraser Valley Bandits. (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Robert Sacre: Energized by his Gonzaga/Lakers past, Fraser Valley Bandits’ new assistant GM makes a hoops homecoming!

He attended Vancouver Grizzlies games as a kid, then went on to play in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers.And through it all, it’s hard to think of anyone who has more passionately repped B.C.’s Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley regions as rightful professional basketball territory than Robert Sacre.With all of that in mind, […]

Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

VL Podcast 03.10.21: Simon Fraser coach Steve Hanson reflects on what March Madness means to him, including a thrilling B.C. AAA title in 2012 at Terry Fox!

Welcome back to Varsity Letters-The Podcast! This week, as the Langley Events Centre re-plays classic B.C. boys basketball championship finals, we have a guest who has coached in one of the most memorable finishes ever. Before he assumed the head role with SFU men’s basketball in 2016-17, Steve Hanson was the co-coach of the Terry […]