Abbotsford Panthers head coach Jay Fujimura chats with former Panthers' great Chase Claypool during a recent Subway Bowl playoff game at B.C. Place Stadium. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Chase Claypool: How four games from his standout 2015 senior season at Abby Senior left the clues which have now become conclusive with Steelers Nation!

ABBOTSFORD — Watching the breakthrough game of Chase Claypool’s young NFL career this past Sunday proved to be a prideful moment for John Barsby head football coach Rob Stevenson, despite the fact that back in 2015, his Bulldogs found themselves on the wrong end of a season-ending playoff loss fuelled by a performance many agree […]

UBC's Kat Tolnai holds off Trinity Western's Jenaya Robertson during 2019 action. UBC and Trinity Western have won more national titles than any other programs in U Sports women's soccer history. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

No fans, no rankings for UBC vs. TWU! Strange times as two greatest programs in U Sports women’s soccer history clash Friday in game no one can see!

VANCOUVER — There’s a rumour going around that the two most successful women’s soccer programs in U Sports history had explored the idea of staging something akin to hockey’s 1972 Summit Series between the Canadians and the then-Soviet Union.With the Canada West having already cancelled the 2020 fall sports season due to COVID-19, imagine the […]

Feature Podcast

10.07.20: Varsity Letters-The Podcast salutes Worlds Teachers Day! Longtime teacher-coaches join Tsumura in saluting our classroom mentors!

Hey, it’s Howard and welcome to another episode of Varsity Letters—The Podcast.   Today we open the show with a short tribute to the late Karin Khuong from Mike Carkner, one of her basketball coaches at Terry Fox Secondary in PoCo. Khuong, 16, lost a two-year battle with cancer on Sunday. The theme of the […]

Terry Fox's Karin Khuong lost her battle with cancer on Sunday at age 16. Despite a recurrence of her illness in January, she still mustered the strength to join her team on the floor at the B.C. AAA championships this past February. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Terry Fox’s Karin Khuong loses two-year battle with cancer, coach Carkner says her “courageous, fearless” influence continues to propel her Ravens

PORT COQUITLAM — Karin Khuong’s indomitable spirit has always been a vital part of the DNA of the Terry Fox Ravens’ senior girls basketball team.

The Canada West announced on Friday that it is taking an extra 26 days to ponder the fate of its conference's winter sports, like women's basketball with a decision expected by Nov. 2. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University

It’s a win, win, win: UBC, Fraser Valley, Trinity Western AD’s trumpet Canada West’s vote to extend window of study on winter sports season

LANGLEY — Student-athletes from the Canada West got a little more reason to believe that winter can still be their sports wonderland.That seemed to be the consensus on Friday after the conference, which includes seven B.C. member universities, announced that it would extend the window of time during which it would determine the fate of […]

They still have plenty of obstacles to navigate en route to a GNAC volleyball campaign, but Friday's news of a spring season was good news for head coach Gina Schmidt's team, who are savouring their moments to be back in the gym together and training as a team. (Photo by Paul Yates property of SFU athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

Simon Fraser fall sports like volleyball, soccer spring forward to 2021! “We still have that carrot to go after” says SFU coach Gina Schmidt

BURNABY — Simon Fraser University volleyball players know that a lot of things are still going to have to happen in order for some semblance of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference season to unfold in the new year.

This week, the Varsity Letters podcasts welcomes UBC's Wilson Wong and ex-UVic basketball PxP voice Guy MacPherson.
Feature Podcast

09.30.19: Varsity Letters-The Podcast gets historical with UBC’s Wilson Wong, ex-UVic Vikes radio man Guy MacPherson

Varsity Letters — The Podcast is back on the air. Looking back isn’t our usual habit, but with the pandemic shutting down what would normally be a frenetic fall season of high school and university sports, we’re going to be heavy on history this week. UBC’s manager of Sports Information Wilson Wong joins us off […]

The simple idea of collecting memories from its vast tree of alums has helped bring the UBC men's basketball program closer together than ever, despite the global pandemic. Pictured clockwise from bottom left are UBC stars Ron Thorsen (with ball), Paul Johannson and Kevin Hanson, and J.D. Jackson (14). (Photos property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved. Photo collage by Gabriel Lynn)
Feature University Men's Basketball

A Sunday Read: How the storytellers of UBC men’s basketball wrote their own history and strengthened bonds in a time of disconnect!

VANCOUVER — In these most disconnected and fractured of times, when our most basic instinct of reaching out to others in an act of the heart is so often compromised by the frustration of new realities, here is a story about finding connection.“Early in COVID, I would be out on my walks… I was doing […]

She got the ball rolling! Trinity Western's 2004 national championship-winning captain Angela Trauter provides the roots of a Spartans' tree filled with talented midfielders. The youth of the 2020 group has much to glean from its past. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

Happy 20th birthday: At the heart of the park, a youthful Trinity Western women’s midfield has much to glean from its stellar past

LANGLEY — So what’s the commonality that best defines the Trinity Western Spartans’ voluminous streak of 16 straight appearances and counting in the Canada West women’s soccer Final Four championships?As in any kind of anatomical analysis, figurative as this one may be, the place to start is at the heart, or in the case of […]

Last season, in his team's upset win over the UBC Thunderbirds at Envision Athletic Centre, Fraser Valley Cascades' guard Vick Toor led the way with 19 points. In an uncertain 2020-21 season, he is being looked upon as one of the team's foundational players. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

UFV’s Toor de Force! With his deep cache of skills rising to the fore, Cascades’ guard Vick Toor is an anchor in these uncertain times

ABBOTSFORD — His game has always been built around such a diverse package of skills that perhaps it’s taken all of us these past three seasons to appreciate the true depth of his talents.Yet if the practice sessions which have just now begun wind up leading to some semblance of a men’s basketball season in […]