Stinger Desmarais Respresents Team Canada in China
Stingers point guard Kyle Desmarais of the men’s basketball team is representing both Concordia and team Canada at the 2011 summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China, which takes place until August 23.
The summer Universiade is a multi-sport event held every two years for University athletes from all over the World. The term itself combines the words “university” and “Olympiad.”
When Desmarais first found out he was going to be representing Team Canada in this Olympic-like event it took a little while for it to register with him, but was ecstatic when his coach told him about it.
“I wasn’t sure what the event was until I talked to my coach. After he told me what it was all about and what it meant, I was super excited,” he explained. The news exited his family as well. “They were extremely proud. They know about the hard work I put in, and they were excited that it was finally paying off.”
Desmarais said he was also honoured to be representing both his country and school on the international level. “It’s an amazing feeling to step out onto the floor, wearing Canada across your chest. I’m glad that I’m representing Concordia University well.”
His excitement aside, in order to be ready for China, he had to put in a lot of hard work over the summer. “You have to make a lot of sacrifices over the summer to ensure that you’re ready for this,” said Desmarais. He explained it was because of the amount of talent that was within his competition. “You’ll be playing against a lot of professional players, a lot of high calibre teams, so you have to train harder than you ever have before,” he concluded.
In fact this event is so huge for Desmarais that he struggled to compare this experience with that of the Stingers. “It’s tough to compare the two. Playing for the Stingers is a much smaller scale event. You come out here, [China] and they treat you like superstars,” he said. He also added that the city of Shenzhen put a lot of money into this event, saying that it was a huge difference.
Currently, Desmarais is sharing minutes with two other point guards; one who’s experienced playing for team Canada head coach Kevin Hanson. He explained that he struggles to find court time, but he is happy that his team is winning. “It’s a battle, but we’re winning so I can’t complain,” he said.
Once this event is said and done, Desmarais hopes to further develop himself as a player. “I want to see how stack up against top competition around the world at my age level, and just continue developing as a player first and foremost and try to get a medal out of it,” he said.
So far Team Canada have won two games and lost one in the tournament. They play team Hong Kong before quarterfinal contention can be decided.
