Associate Director of Business Operations, Ari Grossman has been selected to be the Chef de Mission for the 2017 World Univeristy (FISU) Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan from January 29 to February 8.  

Grossman joined the Warriors team last December and has been a busy developing a long range strategic plan as well as playing a key leadership role in facility updgrades at both the PAC and CIF.  

Grossman will join three other members of the department to wear the red and white next Winter, joining Brian Bourque (General Manager & Associate Coach of Canadian Men's Hockey), Shaun Reagan (Assistant Coach of Canadian Women's Hockey) and Trevor Black (Equipment Manager of Canadian Men's Hockey).

"I am thrilled to see Ari's Canadian Interuniversity Sport and FISU experience be recognized," said director of athletics and recreation Roly Webster.  "Representing your county and leading this delegation is something I know he will take on with the utmost pride, and will no doubt help to provide a first rate experience and result for all members of Team Canada."

Full Release by: Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)  
 

TORONTO (CIS) - Canadian Interuniversity Sport, as the Canadian representative of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), announced Tuesday the appointmenet of Canada's mission staff for the 2017 Universiades.

Ari Grossman, associate director of business operations for the University of Waterloo will lead Team Canada at the 28^th winter world university games in Almaty, Kazakhstan from January 29 to February 8.
 
Darren Cates, director of athletics at the Royal Military College of Canada, will head the red and white delegation at the 29^th summer games in Taipei City, Taiwan, from August 19 to 30.
 
 Lia Taha Cheng, CIS manager of sport and international programs, will serve as assistant chef de mission at both events.
 
"I am truly honoured and humbled to be selected as Canada's Chef de Mission for the 29th Summer Universiade," Cates said.  "The opportunity to lead Canada's delegation of student-athletes, coaches and support staff from across the country to Taipei in 2017 is very exciting.   The Universiade is the pinnacle of sport within the post-secondary system and will be the experience of a lifetime both on and off the field of competition for all that participate."
 
Cates returns as chef de mission for his second consecutive games, after leading Canada at the 2015 winter Universiade in Granada, Spain. Grossman also possesses previous Universiade experience, having served on the communications staff for four consecutive Games – including three as sports information officer – from 2005 to 2011.
 
"I'm honoured to have been selected as Chef de Mission for the 2017 winter Universiade in Almaty," Grossman said. "I'm excited to once again represent Canada on the international stage and look forward to working with our top calibre student-athletes, coaches, and support staff as they strive for excellence."
 
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.
 
Prior to moving to the University of Waterloo in December 2015, Grossman spent over 10 years at Wilfrid Laurier University in the sports information and marketing departments. More recently, as associate director of business operations for the Golden Hawks, he was a key part of all strategic planning while also strengthening the event logistics and partnerships to create better service delivery. 
 
In Almaty, Grossman and Taha Cheng will be accompanied by Michel Belanger, former CIS communications manager, who will take on the same role for the 2017 FISU winter games.
 
Four managers have also been selected for the summer games in Taipei City, including MacEwan University's Lindsay Schulha (accreditation), Concordia University of Edmonton's Joel Mrak (administration), Université Laval's Mathieu Tanguay (communications), University of Windsor's Mike Havey (technical) and University of Alberta-Augustana's Greg Ryan (transportation).
 
The medical staff for both the summer and winter games will be announced at a later date.
 
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 2015, Canada sent a delegation of 117 (including 108 athletes) to the winter games in Granada, while a total 337 (308 athletes) Canadians attended the summer games in Gwangju, South Korea.
 
2017 UNIVERSIADES: TEAM CANADA MISSION STAFF
 
WINTER
Chef de mission: Ari Grossman (University of Waterloo)
Assistant chef de mission: Lia Taha Cheng (CIS)
Communications manager: Michel Bélanger
Videographer: TBA
 
NOTE: The medical staff for the Winter Universiade will be selected at a later date.
 
SUMMER
Chef de mission: Darren Cates (Royal Military College of Canada)
Assistant chef de mission: Lia Taha Cheng (CIS)
Accreditation manager: Lindsay Schulha (MacEwan University)
Administration manager: Joel Mrak (Concordia University of Edmonton)
Technical manager: Mike Havey (University of Windsor)
Transportation manager: Greg Ryan (University of Alberta-Augustana)
Communications manager: Mathieu Tanguay (Université Laval)
Communications officers: TBA
Videographer: TBA
Photographer: TBA
 
NOTE: The medical staff for the Summer Universiade will be selected at a later date.
 
About the 2017 Universiades

The 2017 Summer Universiade will feature 14 compulsory sports and seven optional sports. Compulsory sports: athletics, basketball, fencing, football (soccer), artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, swimming, diving, water polo, tennis, volleyball, judo, table tennis and taekwondo. Optional sports: archery, badminton, baseball, golf, roller sports, weightlifting and wushu.
 
Official website: http://www.taipei2017.com.tw/     
 
The 2017 Winter Universiade will feature eight compulsory sports and four optional sports. Compulsory sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, ice hockey, curling, cross country skiing, short track speed skating, figure skating and snowboarding. Optional sports: ski jumping, nordic combined, freestyle skiing and long-track speed skating.
 
Official website: http://almaty2017.com/
 
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
 
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 12,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four conferences vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
 
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CIS_SIC  
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cissports
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/universitysport
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/CIS_SIC  
 
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