Trinity Western's Katie Devaney has the Canada West's all-time career blocks record well within her grasp. (Scott Stewart/Trinity Western athletics)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

Katie Devaney: From humble goals to huge presence, TWU’s star middle brings her true centre to Spartan nation

LANGLEY — Katie Devaney was convinced that she knew how to dream big. So five years ago, the senior volleyball star at Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Secondary School set in her mind, an ambitious goal to be a starter by the midway mark of her impending university career with Langley’s powerhouse Trinity Western Spartans.

With a tenacity honed from the physicality of water polo, Taylor Claggett has brought a natural level of abandon to her post in the post with Abbotsford's Fraser Valley Cascades. (Photo courtesy Dan Kinvig/Fraser Valley Cascades athletics)
Feature University Women's Basketball

UFV’s Taylor Claggett: How the Cascades’ high-motor post makes her waves with all-out effort on and off the court

ABBOTSFORD — Survival in the painted areas of the basketball court has often been described as a ‘sink-or-swim’ proposition.

UBC Thunderbirds senior Luka Zaharijevic shares a moment with both his father and school president Santa J. Ono (right). On Friday, Zaharijevic plays his final Canada West regular season game when the Birds host Victoria at War Gym. (Richard Lam/UBC athletics)
Feature University Men's Basketball

For UBC’s Luka Zaharijevic, the weight is over; ‘Birds big man pounds the paint, but not the scales

VANCOUVER — “It’s a secret,” Luka Zaharijevic smiles in response to an intrepid reporter’s question about his current weight. Cryptic? Yes.

Nicole Vander Helm is enjoying a happy homecoming with the Simon Fraser Clan, having found a place where she can play her total game. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature University Women's Basketball

From Santa Clara to Simon Fraser: How a true north return helped Nicole Vander Helm re-discover her basketball joy

BURNABY — Nicole Vander Helm admits to have taken a pretty circuitous path in order to re-discover her version of basketball happiness.

Windsor Dukes' quarterback Ryan Baker sizzled on the turf of B.C. Place in December, leading Windsor to the Subway Bowl AA title. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature University Football

Ten years after Billy Greene, UBC tabs another top B.C. quarterback prospect in Windsor’s Ryan Baker

VANCOUVER — The UBC Thunderbirds are bringing B.C. high school football’s touchdown maker to the Point Grey campus.And ‘Birds head coach Blake Nill is not holding back his optimism for the future of Windsor Dukes’ superstar senior Ryan Baker.“To me, Ryan Baker is as close to a can’t-miss prospect as you can have when you […]

Parker Simson wanted to reach a new level following a B.C. AAAA high school basketball championship title with the Kelowna Owls in 2016. He gets a chance to meet that goal this weekend back in his hometown, this time with the UBC Thunderbirds. (Photo used through the permission of UBC athletics)
Feature University Men's Basketball

A weekend for history: Parker Simson aims to become second UBC athlete in 57 years to play football, basketball in same school year

VANCOUVER — As Parker Simson prepared for a most unique moment in UBC sports history this weekend, and in of all places his hometown of Kelowna, he was professing an appreciation for one of sport’s oldest cliches.

Junior college transfer Jordan Muir-Keung has the potential to give the Clan a much-needed scoring boost over the second half of a 2017-18 GNAC campaign which begins Thursday atop Burnaby Mountain against Seattle Pacific. (VarsityLetters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Clan shooters encouraged to ‘feel like they can’t miss’ as SFU looks to snap losing skid Thursday at West Gym White-Out

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — JJ Pankratz continues to battle through an ankle injury. Iziah Sherman-Newsome keeps on plugging, despite those tough defensive assignments that have matched him against much bigger opposition. And Kedar Salam has had enough big-scoring games this season, that he’s getting the best defensive game plan rival teams can throw his way.

UBC's Mason Bourcier is bringing his scoring and playmaking skills to the fore in his freshman season with the Thunderbirds. (Richard Lam/UBC athletics)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Racin’ Mason: UBC’s freshman point guard Bourcier, set for a weekend return to his old Kelowna digs, grabs a piece of ‘Birds hoop history

VANCOUVER — Put Mason Bourcier’s basketball career on a one-year rewind, and over the final weekend of January, you would have caught the then-Kelowna Secondary senior star preparing with the rest of his Owls for the team’s annual Western Canada invitational.

The most important road trip the UBC Thunderbirds have taken this season was to Cuba over the winter break. (Photo courtesy UBC women's basketball)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Havana hoops holiday helps harvest ‘eureka’ moments, Huband’s UBC Thunderbirds grow together in time to make late-season surge

VANCOUVER — Listen to Deb Huband talk about the ever-evolving state of the youngest team she has ever coached in her 23 seasons at the helm of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s basketball program, and one phrase — ‘eureka moments’ — stands out above all the others.