2015 Universiades

Cates, Lépine appointed Canadian chefs de mission

May 14, 2014

Ottawa (CIS) - Canadian Interuniversity Sport, as the Canadian representative of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), announced Wednesday the appointment of Canada's chefs de mission and managers for the 2015 Universiades.

Darren Cates, director of athletics at the Royal Military College of Canada, will lead Team Canada at the 27th winter world university games in Granada, Spain, from February 4 to 14.

Gilles Lépine, director of the Rouge et Or varsity program at Laval University, will head the red and white delegation at the 28th summer games in Gwangju, South Korea, from July 3 to 14.

For her part, Mary MacDonald, CIS manager of sport and international programs, will assume the assistant chef de mission position at both events.

"I am truly honoured and humbled to be selected as the chef de mission for Team Canada," Cates said. "The opportunity to work with some of the top student-athletes, coaches and support staff from across the country is very exciting. We have some of the best people in the world and the Universiade gives them an opportunity to compete on a global stage. I can't wait for 2015!"

"I'm extremely proud to act as Canadian chef de mission and equally excited about the support staff we've assembled," said Lépine. "We have a group of passionate professionals whose common objective is to ensure our Canadian student-athletes enjoy the experience of a lifetime on and off the field. The Universiade are the pinnacle of sport within the education system. It's an extraordinary showcase for university sport."

Cates and Lépine both possess previous Universiade experience, the former as transportation manager at the 2011 summer games in Shenzhen, China, and the latter as summer chef de mission in 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Cates took over as head of RMC's fitness, sports and recreation programs in 2004, following a six-year stint with the University of Ottawa sports services. Over the past decade, he has been a member of numerous committees of Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and CIS. Before embarking on his career in university sports, he had spent two years with Canada Basketball as a national team coordinator.

Lépine has also been in his current position at Laval since 2004. Before joining the Rouge et Or program, he spent 26 years with the student sport association of the Quebec City and Chaudière-Appalaches region (ARSEQCA). A former member of the CIS board of directors, his extensive international experience includes five straight Summer Olympics as a television analyst in volleyball.

In Granada, Cates and MacDonald will be accompanied by Ben Matchett from the University of Calgary, who was named Team Canada communications manager for the 2015 FISU winter games.

Meanwhile, four managers have been selected for the summer games in Gwangju, including MacEwan University's Lindsay Schulha (accreditation), University of Manitoba's Curt Warkentin (administration), Wilfrid Laurier University's Ari Grossman (communications) and McGill University's Geoff Phillips (technical).

The Canadian staff for both events will be completed in the coming weeks.

The Universiade is an international multi-sport competition that takes place every two years. The event, which is second only to the Olympics in number of participating athletes and countries, is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the games who are full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, cegep) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the games.

In 2013, Canada sent record delegations of 148 - including 107 athletes - to the winter games in Trentino, Italy, and 440 (308 athletes) to the summer games in Kazan, Russia.

2015 Universiades: Team Canada Chefs de Mission & Managers

About the 2015 Universiades