Brings indigenous athlete needs to Friends of the Bowl Board
By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Derek Rope is a regular at the Track and Field Track. |
The
46-year-old member of the Pasqua First Nation and Saskatoon resident is one of
the newest additions to the Board of Directors for the Friends of the Bowl
having taken his board position last year. Rope is a business owner and has
extensive experience being a coach and administrator in track and field with a
focus on indigenous athletes.
He is the
Chairperson for Saskatchewan Aboriginal Track and Field, a coach and
administrator for the Running Wild Athletics Club, the Coordinator for track
and field for the North American Indigenous Games and runs numerous clinics for
sports too.
While he
wears a lot of different hats, one of Rope’s biggest smiles came from seeing
pictures of all the speed skating tiles cleared off the Track and Field Track
at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex for the first time since October of 2019.
The new
Track and Field Track facility was used for one season in 2019, but it wasn’t utilized
in 2020 as user groups adjusted to the changing aspects of the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.
In 2020, a
lot of the speed skating tiles were left in place to allow for the Clarence
Downey Speed Skating Oval to be flooded and created a touch faster this past
winter.
The Track and Field Track has started to be used for initial practices, and Rope said it was a great site to see the facility opened up again.
“We are so excited to get back on the track for sure,” said
Rope. “Like everybody, we had to be kind of creative in how we supported our
athletes and working out.”
For the Running Wild Athletics Club that operates
provincially, Rope said that program has 25 performance athletes with the
majority being current or former members of the University of Saskatchewan
Huskies Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams and 40 developmental athletes
inside of Saskatoon who use the Track and Field Track.
Rope said the club members enjoyed using the facility in 2019 and were excited to get back there in 2020. Due to the factors when it came to dealing with the pandemic, the 2020 season didn’t happen, but Rope said getting back to the Track and Field Track this year is that much more special.
“We had one summer utilizing it, and you look forward to
it,” said Rope. “It is such an amazing facility.
“To only have one summer, you look forward to going back,
and then it wasn’t ideal. It was pretty disappointing. Now, we’re all booked in
and ready to go.”
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| Derek Rope helps position Running Wild coaches for a photo. |
Rope been
impressed with the passion of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Bowl
and how motivated they are to finish all the construction projects on the
Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds and promote the facility. Rope said he has
spent a lot of time learning about the Complex and believes one of the biggest
initial things that needs to be done is to get the word out about all the
different sports facilities at the Complex.
“Being the second biggest (multi-sport complex) in Canada,
that is huge thing, and it brings a lot of pride to be instilled in our city
that we have world class facilities,” said Rope. “I think a lot of people
haven’t actually experienced it and seen all the amenities.”
Rope has
enjoyed working with the other members of the Board of Directors of the Friends
of the Bowl. He said the board members have all been involved in their
respective sport scenes for a long time and sport provides the common ground
that makes everyone come together.
“It has been really good,” said Rope. “They’ve been really
responsive.
“I think they recognize that the inclusion and recognition
of indigenous people not only just as clients and patrons of facilities but as
partners and those kinds of things is definitely looking at how they change
their perspectives as well too. They’ve been open to those suggestions. It has
been really good.”
Rope said his role has been to bring forward the needs of indigenous athletes to the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Bowl. He said the board members have been receptive to what he has said.
Rope wanted to stress that he is on the board due to his extensive experience as a coach and administrator in track and field.
“They (the board members) recognized the other talents as
well too,” said Rope, who was a SaskSport Volunteer of the Year award winner in
2018. “The fact that I am indigenous I guess is just a bonus in that regard
too.”
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| Derek Rope and some Running Wild coaches share a laugh. |
With the Huskies, Rope ran the 400-metre and 800-metre races
at outdoor events and the 600-metre race at indoor events. He was the rookie of
the year for the Huskies men’s track and field team in 1993 and remained with
the Huskies in 1994 and a partial season in 1996, when injury cut short his
career.
Rope has fond memories of working with Huskies assistant
coach John Fitzgerald, who was named to the Athletic Canada Hall of Fame in
2018 due to his coaching career.
One memory that stuck out for Rope came from a time when
Fitzgerald had the middle distance runners out at his place in Rosthern, Sask.,
for a practice session where they didn’t run. The Athletes were all sitting in
the living room of Fitzgerald’s home, and the coach began talking to the
athletes about how things were going with their friends, families, school and
their personal lives.
The visit had gone for about an hour until veteran Huskies
team member Jason Warick asked when the athletes were going to workout.
“He (Fitzgerald) said, ‘That was your workout,’” said Rope.
“He (Fitzgerald) said, ‘Look at you guys.’
“This was my rookie year. He (Fitzgerald) said, ‘If you got
injured tomorrow, you would be lost. You wouldn’t know what to do with
yourselves. Too much track impacts and affects all other parts of your life,
and too much of your other life will impact track.
“‘You have to try focus on that balance.’”
From that point, Rope remembered that life balance was
important.
Rope also believes that mentorship is important too, especially for indigenous athletes. With the Running Wild Athletics Club, Rope is happy to see standout Huskies athletes Kendra Farmer and Brett Lachance have been working with the developmental athletes as mentor coaches. Farmer is a member of the Central Urban Metis Federation Inc., and Lachance is from the Big River First Nation.
Rope said it is important for young indigenous athletes to
athletes like Farmer and Lachance doing well at elite levels.
“It is huge,” said Rope. “It makes it real.
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| The mentor coaches with the Running Wild Athletics Club. |
“You can become a student athlete and continue doing what
you love. I think it is huge when kids are able to see their fellow indigenous
people doing well competing and achieving.”
While he
might be modest to admit it, Rope has and continues to provide a role model
example for indigenous and all athletes on how to give back to sport on the
coaching and administrative side too. Rope’s example shows athletes how you can
have a full circle experience in the world of sports.
