Meet Team Canada: Chef de Mission Darren Cates
With the 2017 Summer Universiade kicking off this weekend, U SPORTS sits down with Team Canada Chef de Mission Darren Cates (DC), who serves as director of athletics at the Royal Military College of Canada to find out more about the FISU Summer Games, what to expect from Canadian athletes, and the opportunity for high-performance development.
U SPORTS: What is the Summer Universiade?
DC: Do you know what the Olympics are? Well it’s like that, but for university and college students.
With 21 different sports, it’s the second-largest multi-sport event in the world behind the Olympics. Unfortunately, I don’t think enough people know about it or know what it is. All the countries that participate in university sports get together and compete in 21 different sports under the leadership of the International University Sports Federation (FISU).
U SPORTS: How would you describe the Games (standard, level of competition, resources allocated by the host, impact on the local community etc.)?
DC: I’ve been to several Games now, like the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China – they had 16 or 18 different channels. Every sport and every event was broadcasted. These are big, big events that are very important to the host. This is the largest sporting event Chinese Taipei has ever hosted and there’s a lot of excitement and buzz in the entire country about it and it’s going to be amazing to see.
The level of competition too is another thing that people don’t understand just how good it is. For a lot of countries, there’s really not much difference between their Olympic athletes and their university athletes – they’re one in the same. Even for Team Canada, 56 of the athletes at the Rio Olympics had been to a Universiade, including nine medalists. I remember when I was at the Winter Universiade, I had never seen a live curling event and when I went to curling, I knew all of the teams from the world championships and the Olympic Games – they were the same teams that I had watched on TV. The caliber is extraordinarily high, so it’s amazing competition for people to see.
U SPORTS: How many teams and athletes is U SPORTS sending to Chinese Taipei this summer? What can we expect from them this year?
DC: We’re looking at 275 athletes and I’m very happy that we’re very close to a 50-50 split between men (132) and women (143), 79 staff and 33 medical so the total contingent is 387. It’s very large. We’re participating in 16 different sports which is a lot – including some sports that we just don’t participate in widely in Canada like wushu.
I think we’re going to do really well. We’re taking, from what I’ve seen, really strong teams and really strong athletes. More and more sports have the Universiade in their long-term athlete development plan and they’re sending high-quality teams. After the Olympics, and after the Commonwealth Games, it’s the start of a new quadrennial and so a lot of the sports are sending athletes that we’re going to be hearing about a lot a couple years down the road.
U SPORTS: How do the FISU games contribute to the development of student-athletes?
DC: Just look at how many of our Olympic athletes in Rio last year had been to a Universiade – 56, and nine of them medal winners. For the vast majority of athletes, this is on their development path for future international competition. For a lot of them, it might be the first time they’ve ever competed internationally. Some athletes are part of a student developmental team or have been on a U16 team in basketball, volleyball or soccer. But for most, it’s probably their first opportunity to participate in a large multi-sport Games, and it’s different.
If you’re with basketball, you go on a tour or even to a tournament and that’s the only thing going on. In a multi-sport event, there are so many athletes and just the sheer size of it is huge. It really helps them get used to what they’re going to face later in their athletic career, both dealing with vast distractions to the opportunity that comes with it.
U SPORTS: This is your second time as a Chef de Mission at a Universiade. What did you take away from your first stint as Chef de Mission at the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, Spain?
DC: You learn a lot personally and you learn a lot professionally.
I really learned just how important it is to empower other people at a multi-sport event. You can’t be everywhere and do everything like you would be able to on a campus. You really have to trust the people that you’re working with. They’re all professional and experts in their area and you have to give them the freedom to make decisions and support them especially. That’s one of the biggest things I learned professionally.
I really learned how much this means to the students and the coaches participating. They’re on their development track and for a lot of them, this might be the only opportunity they get to represent Canada internationally and participate in Opening or Closing Ceremonies. They’ve worked their whole life for this opportunity and just the excitement they have and the effort they put in, it’s amazing.
Going forward into this Games, I think it really prepared me for the Summer, because the Summer Universiade is much larger than the winter event and just really learning about working with team leaders and coaches on what we can do for them to provide them not only a great opportunity for competition but a quality experience: to experience a multi-sport games in another country, and for these Games a very unique country that most people have not been to.
U SPORTS: What does it mean to you to be leading the delegation once again?
DC: I’m truly humbled. I’m just thankful I was selected.
I hope I live up to people’s expectations. We have amazing people in U SPORTS across the country and to be selected and have the confidence of my peers and colleagues at the national office, it’s humbling.
I’m always tweeting stories leading up to the event. I’m really excited and I can’t wait for the Games to start.
U SPORTS: What would you say to the athletes selected for this summer Universiade, as well as their fans, friends and family, or others who may interested in following Team Canada this summer?
DC: To the athletes: Make the most of it and enjoy every moment. It’s an incredible honour and an incredible opportunity to represent Canada. They’ve worked really hard to be here and they have an incredible opportunity before them, for themselves, for their country and for their team. Take advantage of it and do what you have to do, so that you perform your best and can be proud of what you did. That goes both competitively and how they carry themselves and represent Canada. Continue on to represent Canada the way you’d want our country represented.
To fans, friends, family and supporters: Be proud of your son or daughter or friend that’s here competing. You helped them get here. Secondly, be loud in the stands. Be loud on Twitter on Facebook because it makes a difference if they hear from familiar faces. We need more people to know that it’s going on and the amazing things that they’re doing.
Note: This interview has been edited for style and clarity.