LANGLEY — It was the kind of moment that a kid named Booker (T. Book to his friends) has learned to read all too well over the course of his high school basketball career.On Sunday afternoon, as the Fraser North Triple-A senior boys basketball championship game wound its way to what everyone at the Langley […]
Tag: Aaron Mitchell
The Rich Goulet Chancellor Memorial ’23: After two cancelled seasons, a grandaddy of B.C. hoop tourneys returns, its own fighter’s mentality not unlike its new namesake and foundational father!
BURNABY — They say that all great traditions, through the passing of time, seem to somehow take on the strongest characteristics of their creators.Early Wednesday afternoon, as he walked out of St. Thomas More Collegiate’s packed and deafening gymnasium having just coached the school’s first senior boys Chancellor tournament game in two years, Aaron Mitchell […]
‘A Hoops Journey’ welcomes Ken Winslade: The caretaker and keeper of the flame for B.C. boys high school hoops joins the podcast crew on eve of tourney tip-off!
LANGLEY — The journey that the B.C. boys high school basketball championships have taken to become the annual showcase it is these days under the bright lights at the Langley Events Centre is one filled with some of the most moments in provincial sports history.Yet the chief reason the game has been able to retain […]
St. Thomas More’s Tarrence Booker: Through his basketball bloodlines & Knights’ hoop traditions, Grade 11 point guard gains deeper appreciation for the game!
BURNABY — At the age of 16, you could say that the pages of Tarrence Booker’s basketball life are just now being written.Yet engage the St. Thomas More Collegiate Grade 11 point guard on any number of topics, both on and off the court, and it becomes pretty clear that he’s already a few chapters […]
Tip-off Wednesday: B.C. high school basketball is back, and minutes after news breaks, we catch up with six of our veteran coaches!
B.C. high school basketball coaches could barely contain their excitement Tuesday evening as they spoke with Varsity Letters just minutes after the official decision came down that B.C. high school basketball’s delayed opening was over, and that tip-off around the province would take place on Wednesday.“They have been waiting to go now for weeks,” said […]
STMC’s Terrell Jana: As draft week arrives, sure-handed Virginia receiver leaves a legacy as a giver en route to his pro football future!
He has helping hands.That’s the best way to describe, in both the literal and figurative sense, the essence of Terrell Jana, who on the eve of both the NFL and CFL drafts, is every bit as much a giver as he is as receiver, and that’s saying a lot when you’re talking about a guy […]
Welcome to the Rich Goulet Memorial Chancellor! St. Thomas More to honour its late, great pioneering coach with lifelong tournament dedication!
BURNABY — In its early days, St. Thomas More Collegiate’s Chancellor Invitational enjoyed the distinct blessing of being run by a basketball visionary.From his very start as boys varsity head coach in 1970, Rich Goulet knew just what the Burnaby school’s annual tournament needed to represent to both student-athletes and coaches, and he worked tirelessly […]
RIP, Coach: For Pitt Meadows & STM’s Rich Goulet (1946-2021), basketball was his student, his teacher and the air that he’d breathe
PITT MEADOWS — On Sunday, on what would be the final day of a life so completely devoted to his greatest passion, Rich Goulet made a simple request.“Scoresheets. He was asking for scoresheets from a Grade 9 basketball tournament,” said his nephew Dave Goulet who was bedside at the hospital, tending to the needs of […]
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 […]
B.C. coaches say “…basketball is going back to being about you and a hoop” How to summon your inner-Naismith in a time of social distancing
NORTH DELTA — What defines a self-made athlete?As the 2019-20 B.C. high school basketball season was coming to an end last March, just days ahead of a province-wide COVID-19 shutdown, it was certainly not a topic I spent much time pondering.Yet some two months later, I can say with great confidence that it has emerged […]