Tuesday's With Dave

 Mirror careers, different destinations, same Olympia This Tuesdays With Dave is about University of Vermont standout TJ Hurley. It's going to take a while to get to TJ  because the route his father Mike took is a big part of the story. That journey eventually got Mike to Olympia and TJ's passion for everything basketball took off.   TJ was recently named the player the Year in the America East Conference while playing for the  University of Vermont Catamounts. He was also named to the All- Conference first team, All- Defensive team, and earned All- Academic status  while surpassing the 1,000 point plateau for his career. There  is so much more to the story, and a lot of it has to do with commitment to others and love of the game that Mike and TJ mirrored in their years at Olympia Sports Camp. This picture is of father and son, but it is also about the importance and pride in local club basketball, and its about vision and commitment to a goal. Looking at t...

 Our Impact on Others Step 12 in the Hero's Journey in A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp calls to mind the impact a person's journey has on the lives of many others. What we bring to the next generation is as or more important as the accomplishments we have. Our goals become helping others reach their goals.  Such is the life and career of former Olympia Sports Camp coach  Peter Campbell. His passing last week has left a hole in the lives of many players who were fortunate to be coached by him or coaches who were inspired by him. I put myself in the latter group. There is a celebration of life set for this Saturday, May 2 at Lazaridis Hall on the campus of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, where Peter coached for the last 15 years of his storied career. The place will be packed by people like me, whose journeys were impacted by Peter. First the career.  Peter's impact on basketball in Canada took him from women's college and Univ...

The Only Way to Win For an NCAA basketball fan of a certain vintage there is a lot not to like about the new way of doing things in college basketball. The money now being paid to athletes through NIL has changed the whole culture of the sport, and the combination with the transfer rules is killing the team ideals of unity, skill development on a year to year basis, and team building. Allowing players to transfer as often as they want has taken player freedom to heights that makes it hard to see what team you are cheering for. And why are almost 40% of NCAA athletes transferring so much and often? Chasing the almighty dollar. It's like the recruiting process is continual, and filled with people with personal wealth and personal agendas.  Some players play at four different schools over the span of the careers! They are playing the selfish pro game in an attempt to someday become a pro. For some it works, for many it doesn't. To be honest I worry about the long term mental healt...

 A Career Well Served An Olympia Sports Camp coach for years;  10 years with the CTA prep team in Ottawa; coaching at two different universities- in the same city! National Champion at Prep and University levels. Named to the Cornwall Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.  And it all started with a card game.  Coach Trevor Steynor is exactly the type of volunteer and passionate coach that keeps youth sports going, and Trevor took the lessons of his youth coaching and turned it into a career working with athletes at the highest levels in Canada. I steal the opening of Trevor's speech when he was inducted into the Cornwall Sports Hall of Fame in 2024 to capture the philosophy of this basketball lifer. This life coach. "Coaching is a collection of experiences and moments. It's these memories that makes coaching come alive.  Rugby Coach Sir Clive Woodward said “ How do you want to be remembered? “ Some players called me “Coach”, “Trevor”, “Trevorbaby”. I hope I've had an imp...

Talk. Heal. Thrive. “I love when people that have been through hell walk out of the flames carrying buckets of water for those still consumed by the fire.” – Stephanie Sparkles Hello Olympia friends, Thank you, Chris, for your support and encouragement in my dream to make a major dent in the stigma surrounding mental illness…the stigma that stops too many people from reaching out for help. As I move forward into this uncharted territory of writing my book, it is wonderful having a friend, encourager and ally like Chris who has already travelled down this book writing road ahead of me. Twice! Thank you for believing in me, Brother! I also want to give a huge Olympia swoosh to Greg Rogers for believing in my message and getting me started on my professional speaking engagements back in 2012. Swooooosh! Thank you, Greg. In the inspirational words of Dave Grace, I’m “taking the bat off my shoulder” and taking the risk to let you peer inside my brain for a little while. It’s scary to put th...

 This week's blog is actually a two-parter. After reading and writing about Coach Don Ryan in Mike Hickeys' great book, When Basketball  Was a Game   I  again got to thinking about the people we get to meet along our journey, and how they enrich our lives. This week I tell about another great person I have been fortunate to meet, learn from, and become friends with, on my journey. To introduce this Olympian I include one of the most iconic pictures that captures the essence of Olympia and an excerpt from chapter 1 of A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp.  This picture is worth a thousand words of life at Olympia Sports Camp. It has a world class athlete and entertainer Harlem Globetrotter Curly Neal, hanging out and having fun with a bunch of teen or 20-something counsellors on a beautiful sunny day in Muskoka. Dave Grace brought Curly up to wow and motivate the campers and staff alike, but this picture shows the humanity of having a bl...