Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti

On the this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, we're joined by the Superintendent of Schools for West Vancouver, Chris Kennedy.  

Kennedy, a Richmond native and long-time basketball coach, shares how he's watched the game of basketball grow and evolve over the past 20+ years of his career.  

By studying the successful high school coaches that came before him, Paul Eberhardt and Bill Disbrow, Chris became a student of the game. In fact, during his time at UBC, Chris could often be found in the library reading up on offensive strategy. This constant drive to know more and be better, earned Chris coaching opportunities with some of the best high school and provincial teams to ever come out of BC.  

By taking advantage of unique opportunities, Chris was also able to accelerate his career, becoming an Assistant Superintendent by the age of 32, and Superintendent by 36 (the youngest Superintendent in the province).  Chris holds a Bachelor's of Education from UBC, a Master's in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University, and is now currently working towards his Ph.D.

On this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, BC SportsHub Founder sits down with Assistant Coach of the SFU Women's Basketball Program, Jessica Wallace to learn more about her basketball journey.  

Bio from SFU Women's Basketball:  Jessica Wallace returned to the SFU Women's Basketball program in May 2019 after a year away. Wallace was Head Coach, Bruce Langford’s lead assistant coach for three seasons from 2015 to 2018 and the team went 56-34 during that time, including a 26-8 record and trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2016-17.    

A native of Vanderhoof, BC, Wallace originally joined the SFU Women’s coaching staff in May of 2015, after completing her collegiate playing career (2011-2014) and one season as a graduate assistant coach (2014-15) at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which competes in NCAA Division II. Wallace, a guard, captained the Crimson Hawks her final season. During her three seasons at IUP, the Crimson Hawks had an overall record of 62-24 with three conference tournament berths and two appearances in the NCAA Atlantic Region Semifinals.  

Wallace originally attended UNBC in Prince George after graduating from Nechako Valley Secondary School. Knee injuries limited her to just one season (2008-09) at UNBC, before re-starting her career with IUP in 2011.   

As an assistant coach with the Crimson Hawks in 2014-15 the team posted a 25-4 record, won the regular season PSAC West Title and made a first round appearance in the NCAA Tournament.   

Wallace graduated with a Bachelors Degree of Science in Athletic Training and a minor in Sports administration with a 3.9 GPA from IUP. She is a certified Athletic Trainer in the United States.

On this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, we had the privilege of sitting down with Head Coach of the Ryerson Rams Women's Basketball program, Carly Clarke.  

Clarke was named the Head Coach of the Ryerson Rams women's basketball team back in June, 2012. 

The 2018-19 season was certainly a special one for Clarke and the Rams as the team would qualify for the playoffs for a 12th consecutive season before playing host to the 2019 U SPORTS Women's Basketball Final 8 National Championship, finishing fifth at the tournament.   

The 2016-17 season saw Ryerson go through a slight rebuilding year, after three of the best Rams to ever lace-up in blue and gold, graduated. However, Clarke refused to let that affect their team mantra: #ChampionsMindset. Through strong recruiting which lead to the arrival of 5th-year impact transfer guard, Kellie Ring, and a recruiting class that brought in two OUA all-rookie forwards, Clarke lead her Rams to their 10th consecutive playoff appearance.

As head coach the Canadian U19 Junior Women's National Team, Clarke led the squad to its first ever medal at the World Cup, claiming the bronze medal with a victory over Japan in July of 2017.  

Clarke guided the Rams to a record setting season in 2015-16, tying a program-best 16 conference victories before winning the first OUA championship in Ryerson history. The Rams also became the first Ryerson team, in any sport, to appear in a national championship final where they finished with the silver medal. The Rams were nationally ranked in all 13 Top Ten polls and peaked at the No. 2 position in early January to mark the highest ever ranking for the program.  

In 2014-15, Clarke led the Rams to a program-best 16 victories for a 16-3 record, winning the OUA silver medal and qualifying for the CIS Final 8 championship for the first time.  

In her second season with Ryerson, Clarke and the Rams posted an 9-13 record while making the playoffs for a second consecutive season. Ryerson's season was ended with a heartbreaking 69-66 loss to the University of Toronto in the OUA playoffs.  

Prior to joining the Rams, Clarke spent three seasons in the head coaching position at UPEI. The Halifax, N.S. native and Level III NCCP certified coach has garnered both national and international accolades working with Canada Basketball as well as various provincial sport organizations.  Clarke won silver as she led the Canada's U18 women's junior national team to a 4-0 record before dropping the gold medal game to team USA at the 2016 FIBA Americas tournament in Valdivia, Chile.

In 2015 as head coach of the Canadian Cadette Women's National Team, Canada struck gold at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women which marked the first championship for Canada in the age division.  In 2014, Clarke led Canada to a sixth place finish at the U17 FIBA World Championship for Women in Pilsen, Czech Republic losing to Australia in the fifth place game. The year before that, Clarke led the Canadians to a silver medal at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women. In 2012, Canada, with Clarke at the helm, captured a bronze medal at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  She also guided the squad to a bronze medal finish at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, which qualified the team for the World Championship.

As an athlete, Clarke played five seasons with Bishop's where she guided the Gaiters to a QSSF championship and fifth-place finish at the CIS Final 8 in 2004. The former academic all-Canadian, who completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology, also topped the nation in 2004 in three-point field-goal shooting percentage.

On this episode, Anthony sits down with another member of the VK Basketball coaching staff, Katja Fuess. VK is lucky enough to have had Kat as both a parent and a coach since our program first started back in 2016.  

During her high school career, Kat played on one of the best high school teams to ever come out of BC; Heritage Park. Under Head Coach, Bruce Langford, Kat played with standouts by the likes of Dani Langford, Kim Smith, Julia Wilson, and Lisa Sigurdson. The team won three straight provincial championships together.  

Coming out of high school, Kat was heavily recruited by various Canadian and American universities, but eventually found a home at Jacksonville State in Alabama where she attended for four years on a full-ride scholarship. Throughout her time at Jacksonville State, Kat had great success both athletically and academically, earning herself an All-American Athletic Award and a spot on the President's List (4.0 GPA) in her senior years.

On this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, Anthony sits down with Jeremy Neufeld; a retired collegiate athlete, parent and coach in our program.  

During his interview, Jeremy talks about the value of getting in the gym for extra practice and finding opportunities to go and watch high-level basketball in order to improve your knowledge of the game.  Following his high school career at Sardis Secondary, Jeremy played on the BC U19 Team where he led his squad to a gold medal win the Canadian National Championships.  

From there, Jeremy went on to have a very successful post-secondary career playing for both UFV, under Head Coach Pat Lee, and SFU under Head Coach, Scott Clark (2000-2002). During Jeremy's career at SFU, he played in both the NAIA and the CIS, averaging 33 mpg, shooting 46% from the field.  

After ending his university basketball career, Neufeld went on to become a teacher and Athletic Director at Riverside Secondary in Port Coquitlam where he has coached in both the boys' and girls' programs for the past 13 years.  In 2009, Neufeld laced his sneakers back up, playing one season for Vancouver's Professional IBL Team, The BC Titans.

On this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, we had the pleasure of sitting down with one of our VK Alumni, Nikki Cabuco.  

Nikki played a very successful high school career at Dr. Charles Best Secondary in Port Moody. During her time at Charles Best, Nikki earned herself Female Athlete of the Year honours in grades 9-12. 

During her summers, Nikki was a member of the Basketball BC Provincial team and VK Basketball's U17 team. Nikki and her teams won gold medals at BBALL Nationals in 2017 and 2018 and Nikki was named MVP of the tournament in 2018.  

After graduating high school, Nikki signed with the UFV Cascades under Head Coach, Al Tuchscherer. In her rookie season (2019-2020), Nikki earned herself a spot in the starting five, averaging 22 minutes per game.

In this episode, we had the privelege of sitting down with two-time CIS National Champion, Morgan McLaughlin. In this interview Morgan, an Ontario native, shares her experience of moving across the country while learning to balance both basketball and academics.  

Morgan was recruited to SFU by former Head Coach, Allison McNeill for whom she played two seasons—one in the NAIA and one in the CIS. 

In Morgan's third year at SFU, Bruce Langford was hired as Head Coach, and led the squad to an undefeated 35-0 season, capped off with a CIS National Championship (2002). Following two 4th place finishes in 2003 and 2004, Morgan closed out a fantastic career at SFU with another undefeated season (38-0) and CIS National Championship over the Winnipeg Wesmen in 2005.  

After taking a brief hiatus from the game, Morgan laced up her shoes once more and took her talents overseas to play professionally in Germany for one season. After that, Morgan went on to live in Scotland for a year, playing in both the national league and the University of Glasgow's varsity team.  Morgan now works as a teacher, Head of the Athletic Department, and Sr. Girls basketball coach at Collingwood School in West Vancouver, BC.

On this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, we had the pleasure of chatting with former CIS player, current coach, and former VK Basketball parent, Danie Gardner.  

Danie played her high school basketball career at DW Poppy Secondary in Langley, BC. From there, she went on to play three years in the CCAA at University College of the Fraser Valley under Head Coaches Bruce Langford and Mike Hind.  

After recovering from a season-ending knee injury in her final season at UFV, Danie was recruited by former Head Coach at Dalhousie University, Carolyn Savoy, who helped her fulfill her dream of playing in the CIS.  

After a successful three-year career at Dalhousie, Danie returned home to BC and began to give back to the game—coaching first at Langley, Sr. Secondary and then at Langley Christian School, the AA Girls Basketball powerhouse we know today.

On this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, we had the privilege of sitting down with one of the longest-serving coaches in BC high school basketball history.  

Since beginning his coaching career back in 1975, Paul has coached numerous high school basketball teams ranging from the Gladstone Jr. Boys, to the Riverside Sr. Girls, where he's been for the past 22 seasons. Consistently among the best teams in the province, Paul's Rapids have made it to thirteen of the last fourteen BC Girls Provincial Championships.  

Graduates of the Riverside Basketball program have gone on to exceptional success at the collegiate level. Riverside is one of only two B.C. girls basketball programs to have sent over 25 athletes to play basketball at the college/university level during Paul’s time at the school, with 6 of those going on to play at the NCAA level. Riverside graduates have won national championships, Canadian College Player of the Year awards, and NCAA All-American awards.  

Along with his illustrious high school career, Paul has also coached numerous Basketball BC U13, U14, U15 & U17 Provincial Teams, winning a Silver Medal at the 2009 Canada Summer Games in Prince Edward Island.  

Back 1992, Paul started JABOG—a girls youth basketball club that's still alive and well today, helping hundreds of young female athletes discover their love of the game.  ...And in 2016, Paul joined forces with Anthony Beyrouti and Jenna Ralston to bring our VK Basketball club to life!

On this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, we had the privilege of sitting down with our very own, Simon Dykstra. For those of you that don't know, Simon is both a parent and a coach in our VK Program, having coached his younger daughter Louise in 2019 and his older daughter Marah in 2020.  

As a teacher and coach in the Vancouver School District for over 20 years, Simon continues to give back by sharing his knowledge and love of the game with hundreds of  young student-athletes.  

Prior to becoming a teacher, Simon had a very successful playing career at SFU from 1986-1990 under Head Coaches, Stan Stewardson (1986-1989) and Jay Triano (1989-1990); who would go on to become the Head Coach of the Toronto Raptors from 2008-2011.  

Following his successful career at Simon Fraser, Simon went on to play professionally overseas in Copenhagen, Denmark from 1991-1994.  During Simon's second year abroad, he was named to the Denmark All-Star Team.  

Simon was also part of the Roskilde BBK team that was promoted into the Elite-division during his second year as a player-coach.  

After returning to Canada and obtaining a B.A. from UBC, Simon coached the Jr. and Sr. Boys teams at Kitsilano Secondary to provincial titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. From there, Simon went on to earn himself the job as Head Coach of the Langara Falcons from 2002-2004.