Whatever it takes

Duane Kale with his gold medal at Atlanta, 1996.

Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) appointed Kale "Chef" for the Beijing Games back in 2006. Although this will be his first Chef de Mission role at Paralympics level, his CV more than stacks up. He came away from the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games with four gold medals and four new world records (50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley). His medal haul also included a silver and bronze (50m freestyle and 100m backstroke). Most importantly, Kale understands the psyche – and the needs - of a successful athlete.

Duane Kale says "My role in Beijing is to ensure any obstacles are removed – hopefully before they're even confronted by the athletes".

"You can't plan for a lot of the stuff," Kale notes. "We have planned courses of action during the course of events. But things occur which you can't predict. I'll be overseeing the team, coordinating with the head coaches, providing the resources to make it happen."

In all, the New Zealand 2008 Paralympics team consists of 60 people, 30 of them athletes. Kale's key support team is an operations manager, a medical director and a high performance manager, while athletes are directly supported by head coaches for each sport.

Then there are the people Kale warmly terms as "part of the equipment", those implicit to some athletes taking part in their sport. For example, the sighted "pilot" for a sight-impaired cyclist; or the "ramp assistants" for the bowls-like sport of boccia.

"Everything the support team does is in the best interests of the athletes. I'll be helping the team work together to achieve that. It's about doing whatever it takes. The only reason we're going to Beijing is the athletes," says Kale.

Unlike the New Zealand Olympic team Chef de Mission, Kale's is a voluntary role, so his main responsibilities are limited to the time he's in Beijing, as well as maintaining a working brief of logistics.

Kale has plenty of governance and administration experience to back up the elite sporting experience. He's on the Board of PNZ and he went to the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games as manager for the swimming team. Kale was also Chef de Mission to the 2006 Far Eastern and South Pacific (FESPIC) Games for athletes with a disability.

Not least, there's his "day job". Kale is South Island regional manager for the branch network of the National Bank. "My job is to help set the direction of the region, to implement change, to drive the business forward. To make the most of the opportunities and ensure overall success," Kale explains.

Replace the words "relationship banking" with "high performance sport" and that experience - in a highly competitive and fast changing sector - clearly has relevance.

As for goals, the team has a target of 13 medals, which reflects the significant Paralympics campaign funding from SPARC". There is a very defined measure of success. We've made no secret from the sports and athletes that the goal is medals."

Which raises the question, how have things changed since he was an athlete? "Paralympic sport has become an awful lot more professional," Kale says without hesitation. "I can't really compare the administrative side of things. In Atlanta I was singularly focused – I didn't really care what was happening to make things happen. I wasn't aware of the logistical areas."

"One of the biggest changes from past Games is that at PNZ we've focused on the sports deciding what is appropriate for the athlete – not us. We ask the sports what they need and then support that. We don't organise training camps and so on. The responsibility is with the sport," he stresses.

Of course, some things don't change from Games to Games. The New Zealand team as a whole embraces the "things that make us unique as a country". Just like the Beijing Olympians, when appropriate, Waiata and Haka will be embraced to honour and celebrate.

And over-arching everything, there's the shared understanding of disability. "We talk of the Paralympics family. There is a strong bond amongst all the athletes," Kale says. "We are a smaller, closer family."

All the Paralympic teams will be staying in the same athletes' village as used by the Olympic teams. After the Olympic Games closing ceremony, the athletes' village will be completely packed up and comprehensively cleaned and just 48 hours later will re-open spic and span -ready for the first Paralympic teams to arrive.

The teams at the Games are allocated a certain number of beds for support staff, depending on how many athletes they have. Kale notes depending on the needs of the New Zealand athletes, the team may have support staff staying outside the village. "We may also have to bring people into the village during the day or rotate support staff through the Games," he says.

Duane Kale lives in Wellington with his family. "I still get wet a couple of times a week," he laughs when asked about swimming. "Life changes. Your priorities and goals change," he says.

Paralympics New Zealand is the recognised National Sporting Organisation (NSO) for people with disabilities and is recognised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). PNZ supports opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in sport - from club level, regional and national competition through to international competition. Sports are offered through a network of regional ParaFed Associations, regional and national sport specific groups, NSOs, clubs, coaches and individuals.

Updated | 30 Oct 2008.

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