Kelowna Owls' star outside hitter Sebastien Manuel, the unanimous choice as Varsity Letters' 2021-22 B.C. Boys High School Player of the Year, will stay home and begin his university career next season with the UBC Okanagan Heat. (Photo property of UBC Okanagan Heat athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Kelowna Owls’ Sebastien Manuel: B.C. Boys Volleyball 2021-22 Player of the Year brings a heart-and-soul love for the game to his hometown UBC Okanagan Heat!

KELOWNA — Let Sebastien Manuel tell you a volleyball story and before long you start to realize, from the conviction of his delivery, that he’s actually talking about what matters most to him in life.Is there a way to best describe him?How about the word ‘steeped’ as in “…to be surrounded by or filled with […]

Simon Fraser's Wilfried Balata (10) and Elliot Dimaculangan had plenty to celebrate Thursday after a rally from 22 points down carried SFU to a last-second win over the St. Martin's Saints. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

After frigid start, Simon Fraser rallies from 22 points down to stun visiting St. Martin’s! Says point guard David Penney: “Now we know we have another gear we can get to!”

BURNABY — It wasn’t exactly a first half that you would put alongside the most inspiring in the history of Simon Fraser men’s basketball.In fact, it ebbed low enough about four minutes from halftime that the home team was staring a 22-point deficit straight in the eye Wednesday evening at the West Gym against the […]

Former Tamanawis Wildcat and Fraser Valley Cascade big man Sukhman Sandhu has brought a revelatory skill package to his first season as a UBC Thunderbird. Despite the stops and starts of the 2021-22 Canada West season, Sandhu and fellow UBC newcomer James Woods have helped set the 'Birds in place for a productive post season. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

As UBC Thunderbirds host UFV Cascades on Friday, the trick in a 2021-22 Canada West hoops season of stops and starts is finding a way to stay in rhythm with your routine!

VANCOUVER — You’re the head coach of a Canada West men’s or women’s basketball program, and as the most disjointed regular-season campaign in conference history does its best to wind towards an organized conclusion, one question seems to keeping topping all others in terms of relevancy.Between re-scheduled games and extended byes, what’s the best way […]

Mackenzie Pool (top, centre) elected to stay in Canada to play her university volleyball. The Alberta Pandas couldn't be happier. (Photo by Ken Pool for Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

Our 13th annual edition: Who are B.C.’s Top 15 Grade 12 girls volleyball players? Check out our 2021-22 Dream Team!

LANGLEY — Pandemic or not, Varsity Letters has never failed to deliver what has become one of our most eagerly-anticipated features, and that’s why we’re happy to bring you our 13th straight edition of B.C.’s Top 15 high school volleyball players.Last year, even with the entire season cancelled due to COVID, our unflappable panel of […]

Back at Notre Dame and prepping for high school graduation this spring, Jugglers' standout Mackenzie Pool has prepped for a post-secondary and international career by spending the past two season's with Volleyball Canada's National Excellence Program. (Photo by Angela Rivera property of Notre Dame athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

Notre Dame’s Mackenzie Pool: B.C. Girls Volleyball 2021-22 Player of the Year, a study in impassioned learning on & off court, makes Alberta Pandas her next stop!

VANCOUVER — Just as she’s done in laying the academic foundation for a potential future in law school, Mackenzie Pool has brought a student’s curiosity to everything she’s accomplished on the volleyball court as one of Canada’s up-and-coming young stars.And in keeping with that theme, it’s no stretch to say that on her way to […]

What a memory! Lord Tweedsmuir's Arjun Samra is carried around the court at the Langley Events Centre just prior to being named the 2019 B.C. Quad A tournament MVP. We're looking for some of your fondest as March Madness inches closer. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

March Madness comes to the LEC! Attn: Past players, coaches and media members, too… share your favourite B.C. boys or girls tourney memories with us via video!

Hey Varsity Letters’ readers, here’s a note from all of the dedicated people working behind the scenes at the Langley Events Centre who are determined to make March Madness as special as it deserves to be following last season’s cancelled 2020-21 provincial basketball championship tournaments:LANGLEY — With the Junior Basketball Provincial Invitational Tournaments and the […]

Trinity Western Spartans' point guard Mason Bourcier during his team's 93-84 exhibition win over the Calgary Dinos on Oct. 7 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Mason Bourcier: With three triple-doubles over his past six games, Trinity Western’s well-travelled guard puts down his hoops roots at Langley Events Centre!

LANGLEY — Ask Mason Bourcier about the good times he is starting to have again on the basketball court, and he seems to first take a backwards glance into his own figurative rearview mirror before speaking.“I used to be that kid, who if you showed him a brick wall, he’d run right through it,” Trinity […]

Kelowna Owls head coach head coach Harry Parmar will be putting in the miles this week with the rest of his team as B.C.'s No. 9-ranked team faces three fellow Top 10 squads in the Lower Mainland Thursday through Saturday (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Kelowna’s No. 9 Quad-A Owls make southern migration! With trio of Top 10 foes scheduled, coach Parmar says ‘Our goal is still to make it to March 12!’

Few high school teams can rival the Kelowna Owls senior boys basketball in terms of kilometres travelled over the course of a season.Yet with the pandemic and the flooding playing havoc on its primary method of preparing for the annual grind that is the B.C. senior boys Quad-A basketball championships next month, the stalwart KSS […]

Duchess Park's Cole Laing and the rest of the Condors continued to hold down the No. 3 ranking in this week's latest B.C. Triple A Top 10. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. boys high school basketball rankings 02.08.22 edition: With playoff fever in the air, there’s new No. 1’s at Triple- and Single-A!

LANGLEY — It’s that special time of the basketball season as league play wraps up and playoffs begin to take centre stage.With that said, here are the latest B.C. senior boys high school basketball rankings over a week in which a pair of new No. 1’s emerged.Surrey’s Elgin Park Orcas moved to the top of […]

The St. Patrick's Celtics and Byrne Creek Bulldogs are each a part of the B.C. junior boys basketball rankings issued Tuesday. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. junior boys Top 10 basketball rankings 02.08.22 edition: Surrey’s Elgin Park Orcas surge from unranked to No. 7 in most topsy-turvy poll of season!

LANGLEY — The B.C. boys junior basketball championships are set to tip off Feb. 26 at the LEC, and as we hit the stretch drive there is nothing much to report except the most topsy-turvy stretch of the entire campaign thus far.Only two of the Top 10 spots remained static, headed by No. 1 Vancouver […]