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Meet Miggy How many Olympia alumni still have a nickname that originated at camp ? The culture and community of Olympia creates an atmosphere where such things happen. This blog is about journeys. Miggy's is one of the best. I'm glad I got to witness a part of it. Meet Miguel A Grande. A great counsellor, a great coach, a great person who lived with a physical condition that makes his journey more amazing and heroic. When he started working camps through the YMCA and Camp Belwood, Miguel met many people who had worked at camps for 10 years and he always wondered why anyone would spend their entire summers at camp. Then Miguel got to Olympia in 2013 and became Miggy.  Olympia from day 1 did something to Miggy. Everyone brought him into their fun, enthusiastic spirit, which brought his out, and Miggy was hooked. He remembers fondly his first Sunday Jamboree, meeting the legendary Bruce Ransom, and especially meeting the Unit Leaders that inspired him to become one too. Miggy wa...
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  Every Tourney has a Journey With the 2025  NCAA basketball tournament in full flight, one has a myriad of storylines to follow. One Shining Moment times 68 teams. There is so much passion from fans across the NCAA that it has created the term March Madness. Fans are committed to their teams, or committed to just watching good basketball. Yet every year there are personal stories that just take your breath away. This story is just one, but a great one for Olympia Sports Camp to be proud of. The story I share is not from this year. The story I share is from ten years ago even though it feels like a moment ago. The story I share involves the favourite NCAA player for a lot of people, especially those who have shared the courts of Olympia Sports Camp with Gonzaga's Kevin Pangos. I spent five years following Kevin's journey while researching for my book  Can't Miss: The Kevin Pangos Story and I got to meet and interview a lot of great people but the excerpt I share here may ...
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 Dave Grace makes instagram! This posting, nicely put out by the Olympia staff, and  the picture of Dave at the 50th Anniversary made me want to revisit the life of this man who started with a dream that we all became part of. The following is an excerpt from A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp that captures the essence of his journey well. The text is from Chapter 2: Your Commitment to Your Call to Adventure.  Dave had a dream to run his own sports camp, but its his commitment to making that dream a reality that is most impressive. A kid from London, Ontario who loved sports and loved camps combined those two loves and created one of the most successful camps in Canada, all while inspiring thousands.  Look at any list of former campers, counsellors, and coaches and you will see people who have dared to 'Take The Bat Off The Shoulder' in pursuing their goals. They witnessed Dave commit on a daily basis and that inspired them that they too ...
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Heroes Walk Among us This is the 183rd entry in this blog. It was started with a flippant comment in one of my many meetings with Dave Grace for my book A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp that I should start a blog called Tuesdays with Dave. The blog would be about content in the book, about the journey of Dave Grace and the 50 years of Olympia, about the Olympia community of heroes we have met along our journey. About the the successes, and losses that the Olympia family has been through. This blog entry has nothing to do with Olympia, but it's all about a hero that walked among us. Let me introduce you to my good friend Simon Lewis. Simon was born in Swansea, Wales in 1960 and was an accomplished athlete, representing Wales in rugby before emigrating to Canada with his lovely wife Kay, whom he married in 1981. He played lots of rugby in Burlington. He was a millwright by trade, working shifts at Toyota in Cambridge and Ford in Oakville over a 30-y...
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The Olympia family was dealt some bad news this past week when we learned of the passing of long-time superintendent Bruce Ransom.  Arrangements have been done by the Billingsley Funeral Home on Ravenscliffe Road in Huntsville. Check out   https://www.billingsleyfuneralhome.com/   for the beautiful obituary. There will be celebration of life at a later date. Let's be there. When Greg Rogers told me about Bruce's death I thought of the hundreds of Olympia staff who will be gutted by this news. Bruce's combination of honesty, high expectations, story telling and humour made for many great relationships over the 40+ years when Bruce would inspire these young people to work hard and achieve.  I also thought of the interview Joy and I had with Bruce for my book A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp . We met in the coach's dining hall and it was maybe the most fun interview I had, and love that Joy got to know the man who lived Olympia with e...
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The journey of writing A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp  gave a lot of highlights and stories I'll remember forever but the coolest may have been my connection to Jennifer Sharman, my editor. Several years ago I started writing for local-news.ca an online news service in Burlington. Never having met her, Jennifer and I made a connection simply through her skill with the written word. I would send my articles in, Jennifer would edit my work and bring the story to life. I was impressed with Jennifer's work and passion, so I hired her to edit my work-in-progress book. We worked together, chapter by chapter, idea by idea,  and I'm proud to say that my writing, combined with Jennifer's 'magic' made for a book that the Olympia community could be proud of. This blog is not about Jennifer Sharman Sorry for the double dip, but the blog entry this week is sort of a reprise of an article I just released on local-news.ca. Burlington people ...
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