Abstract

Multi-sport Games with groups representing regions, provinces, or countries typically have a core leadership group that is responsible for the overall oversight and management of an entire team competing at the Games. This group is known as the mission staff with its leader given the title ‘Chef de Mission’. Examples of Games with mission staff at the international level include the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and Pan American Games. In Canada, teams with mission staffs include the Canada Games and Western Canada Games with that model mimicked in many other nations. I have had the pleasure of being on two such mission staffs; and as president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee and board member for 14 years, I had the opportunity to witness first-hand how a mission staff works at five Paralympic Games and three Para Pan American Games.