Parker Simson is enjoying his first basketball-only off-season and that's good news for his new team, the Douglas College Royals. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics)
Feature University Men's Basketball

After CCAA national title-game appearance, Douglas men’s hoops looks to build new Royal family with UBC as first test

NEW WESTMINSTER — The Douglas College Royals may only be six months removed from their journey to the CCAA national men’s basketball championship final, yet the sport’s insuppressible nature of seasonal renewal is helping head coach Joe Enevoldson keep things very real.

Gritty Isaiah Solomon (left), pictured during his 2012-13 rookie season, is hoping to make a return to the UBC men's basketball roster after an extended absence. (File photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.com)
Feature University Men's Basketball

UBC men’s basketball: Asian international the newest ‘Bird, an Isaiah spotting, Shook joins coaching staff

VANCOUVER — The UBC Thunderbirds men’s basketball team may have had its highly-anticipated clash with NCAA Div. 1 UC Santa Barbara, scheduled for Friday at War Gym, cancelled by the visitors concerns with local air quality. That doesn’t mean, however, that in the dead of summer, there was any lack of news emanating from head coach […]

Former W.J. Mouat Hawks' star lineman Sheriden Lawley is greeted by his new head coach, UBC's Blake Nill, as fall camp is underway for the Thunderbirds. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics)
Surrey's AAA No. 1-ranked Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers are exercising caution as fall camp opened around the province to hazy skies. (Varsity Letters file photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Football

B.C. high school football teams open fall camp practicing caution due to province’s poor air quality

SURREY — High school football players in this province were all excited about the start of fall camp on Monday, with opening week set to kick-off in 10 days.

Fraser Valley Cascades' freshman midfielder Anthony Vega (left, 5), a New Westminster Secondary grad, is one of a gaggle of rookies populating the roster of the Abbotsford-based U Sports program this season. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters)
Feature University Men's Soccer

UFV men’s soccer 2018: Cascades undergo a true culture change as 15 pure freshmen form program’s new foundation

ABBOTSFORD — It takes a pretty honest architect to unroll the blueprint and wield the eraser when the plans for a newly-poured foundation have barely had the opportunity to settle.

UBC's huge class of incoming players gathered Thursday on the Point Grey campus in advance of its 2018 fall camp. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics)
Feature University Football

UBC FOOTBALL: How the ‘Birds new 2018 class can lean on and learn from 2015’s rookie class of Vanier Cup champions

VANCOUVER — His imprints may still seem fresh, yet with his fourth fall training camp at the helm of UBC football officially set to open today, you could say that Thunderbirds’ head coach Blake Nill has finally got some blue-and-gold tradition of his own to lean on.On Thursday afternoon, 16 sleeps ahead of its Canada […]

UBC's Liesanne Musico (right) and the rest of the Thunderbirds dropped a 3-2 decision to the visiting Western Washington Vikings on Thursday at Dhillon Field. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics)
Feature University Women's Soccer

UBC women’s soccer 2018: ‘Birds tackle challenging early slate of NCAA foes in search of the new identity

VANCOUVER — It was a week-long, season-opening boot camp from hell, scheduled to test their mettle, reveal their character and start to define their new identity as a soccer team.It’s a process that can’t be avoided when you graduate a pair of attacking phenoms — Jasmin Dhanda and Aman Shergill — who accounted for fully 62 […]

Notice the nose? Oak Bay's John Truly Boehme, pictured scoring the final try of the Barbarians AAAA B.C. championship season, did what he had to do to help his team to an historic win last month in Abbotsford. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
Feature High School Rugby

Oak Bay’s John Truly Boehme: His story behind the photo!

I took thousands of photographs, both on fields and inside gymnasiums, over the course of the 2017-18 B.C.high school and university sports season. And while my personal favourites all, to some degree, attempt to convey a sense of emotion, the one that stands out most for me does so for a variety of reasons. 

It became their good luck charm earlier in the season, and this past March, the Walnut Grove Gators girls hoisted it high after winning the B.C. junior varsity title at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)