Donnovan Bennett. If you’re a sports fan in Canada, you have probably seen him on TV, listened to him on a podcast, or read something with his name in the by-line.

Amid all the work Bennett does for Sportsnet as a storyteller, producing feature interviews, leading DEI strategy and content, and more, one of the projects he’s most proud of is his podcast, Going Deep. As the name suggests, it is about both sport and diving into larger themes, including health, music, fashion, race, religion, gender, politics, and everything in between.

“I just think sport is such a force multiplier for so many other things in our world, but also so many other important conversations,” he said. “So, where I can do some storytelling around the intersection of sport and these other things, it’s fun for me.”

But before he entered the media, Bennett was on the other side of the mic, putting in the work on the field to become an impressive athlete. When he competed in rugby for the host province of Ontario at the London 2001 Canada Games, it was the biggest event he had played in.

“It was my first exposure to dealing with media as an athlete, in terms of being interviewed, so that was a great learning experience,” Bennett said. “And I also learned what I wouldn't want to do, in terms of having your quotes used out of context.”

After being interviewed for a local publication, Bennett remembered taking pause when he saw how his responses were used in the subsequent story. He recognized that the result wasn’t anything egregious, but knowing then that he wanted to join the media in the future, having his answers misused was something that stuck with him.

“I was cognizant of how I wanted to be as a media member based off of that experience.”

His strong play on the field en route to a silver medal, which would lead to a tryout with Canada’s national junior team, was what attracted Bennett’s media attention at the Games.

He recalled knowing that there were scouts there for the national program, too, but the people in the crowd he took most notice of were members of his family.

“One of our big games, where I played well, I had extended family there watching and I remember what a point of pride it was for my grandparents,” Bennett said. “I remember the sense of pride they had, with extended family there to support, that I was representing the province at a national tournament.”

Bennett grew up in a first generation Canadian family, who are originally from Jamaica and arrived via England - with relatives in both other countries. And that summer, they happened to be visiting. Bennett said that having so many family members see him succeed on the national stage at the Canada Games - a competition that bears the name of the country his grandparents chose to move to - was meaningful to his grandparents and to him.

“For most new Canadians and immigrant families, assimilation is a big, big deal,” he said. “So that was pretty special for them. And so by proxy, pretty special for me.”

Ultimately, Bennett ended up being recruited in Canada and the United States for football, playing the bulk of his university career for the Western Mustangs, back in London, in the same stadium he still recalls being marshalled into for the Opening Ceremony.

“I remember being there with the team and all the other athletes walking out,” Bennett said. “You see something like that at the Olympics, right? So to have a mini version of that was cool to experience.”

He began his media career covering the university sport world he had just left behind for The Score, before expanding into amateur sport in general, and eventually reporting on sport overall. Bennett landed at Sportsnet in 2013, and has continued to add more responsibilities to his work there over the last decade, but still remembers to put himself in athletes’ shoes.

“It's applying some of the principles, but also some of the empathy that I have for athletes, having been one a long, long time ago, and trying to have that inform and inspire my coverage,” he said. “I'm obviously a reporter, but I still consider myself an athlete first, and I'm trying to - not protect the athlete - but do right by them.”

In all of his coverage, Bennett said that some of his favourite moments have come from working with amateur athletes and those representing their country.

“Whether it's people on the national soccer teams or basketball teams or track athletes or swimmers - similar to the Canada Games - they put so much into their craft,” he said. “And the payoff, often, is one Olympics or one World Championships or one World Cup, and I find that fascinating.”

With recent family connections to the Canada Games, Bennett wouldn’t rule out returning to the Canada Games some day, to watch, report on them, or in another capacity.

At the Niagara 2022 Canada Games, where his father-in-law Tim McKenna was the lead photography volunteer, Bennett’s sport of rugby made a return to the Canada Games, with the debut of women’s sevens. In 2025, men’s and women’s sevens are on the Canada Games program in St. John’s, NL.