Donning a freshly buzzed head to begin the 2025/26 season, Matt Chapdelaine lifted up the garage door and showed me around what’s functionally his office, better known as the Cave in Building E — notably painted with one forest green wall.
While the space existed prior to his arrival as UFV Cascades strength & conditioning coach in 2019, Chapdelaine has given it life. The previous layout of awkwardly arranged squat racks and mirrors has been transformed to create a fitness studio for varsity athletes to train more effectively — with a computer tucked into the corner for the coach to send emails.
The Cave is one small part of UFV’s campus, but there’s a tenable energy between those four walls within the bowels of the UFV Athletic Centre. Chapdelaine calls it the idea of transformation, based on both the teachings of the Stó:l? nation and what UFV can offer those unsure where they belong.
UFV is a place where you can transform yourself. A place where you can begin without any prospects and turn your life into whatever you want it to be.
“UFV is probably one of the most accessible universities in the country,” Chapdelaine told The Cascade. “It’s a place where you can be anybody, and you can find a place to belong here.”
Chapdelaine comes from a storied sports family. His father, Jacques, is a former professional CFL football player and three-time Grey Cup champion as a coach. His mother, Kim, was a track and field coach at Trinity Western. His older sister, Kaela, played basketball at the University of Oregon, and his younger brother, Justin, won a Vanier Cup alongside Nick Sirski in 2009.
It’s not hard to see how Chapdelaine found himself in football.
After winning a B.C. provincial championship with Abby’s W.J. Mouat Hawks in 2005, Chapdelaine found himself in the starting line-up with the University of Alberta Golden Bears roster in 2006. He admittedly refers to himself as a hot-shot receiver at this point in his life, and although no one in their right mind would refer to him as undersized as he currently stands, he was undersized within the sport of football at 175 lbs. in his first year.
“I had a lot of bravado,” said Chapdelaine. “I thought I was the premier receiver coming out of my grad class in Canada… And I had nothing to back that up.”
Chirping his defensive backs or even his coach during practice was a regular occurrence for the young and brash Chapdelaine — in one instance even going as far as suggesting that the defensive unit would need to recruit new players capable of covering him.
“It’s embarrassing to look back at that and be like, wow, you could have really used a dose of humility.”
A moment of clarity came years later when the opportunity to meet Jason Clermont — then of the BC Lions — arose. Chapdelaine recalls asking Clermont why the longtime pro athlete never celebrated after a touchdown. Clermont replied he’d done it before. It was part of his job to score touchdowns. From that point on Chapdelaine would opt to take a similar step toward humility with more muted celebrations on the gridiron.
Chapdelaine sustained multiple concussions during his first season in Edmonton, an early warning sign that perhaps a sustained career in football might not be possible. With hindsight, he thinks a more beneficial path would have been to redshirt his first year of football and further develop his skills as a practice player, a path he encourages all student-athletes to take advantage of, should they have the chance.
Another concussion the following season with the Golden Bears forced Chapdelaine onto the sidelines yet again, followed by a stress fracture that derailed a 2009 comeback attempt with SFU — football seemed like it was slipping out of his grasp.
“When the game gets taken from you so many times you realize, what am I entitled to? You just have no sense of entitlement anymore because you realize it’s a gift.”
Despite not being able to play the entirety of 2009, Chapdelaine once again ramped up his training and was picked by the BC Lions in the sixth round of the 2010 CFL draft. Serving as a practice player the following season, he was starting at the bottom, a humbling position for the young man who was undoubtedly a longshot. He found enjoyment tutoring his teammates on the coach’s playbook, the sign of a player that truly embraced their role as a teammate on his squad.
After giving up football for good, Chapdelaine has found a new calling in his work with student athletes at UFV. On the sidelines at every Cascades game, whether it be sporting a quiff, sidepart — or buzz cut — he’s always repping green, rain or shine.
“Maybe it’s the kick-off to a championship era here,” Chapdelaine said of his new look.
