Tuesday's With Dave

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...

Basketball is a Game... a Tool for Growth When writing A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp I was motivated to capture the 50 year history of the camp but more so I wanted to explore the life and teachings of Dave Grace and understand what it took for him to inspire so many, for so long.... I now find myself exploring the journey of other heroes. Some are written about in this blog, others come from further reading.   Let me introduce you to Mike Hickey. First a brief history of one the quality people I got to meet on my journey. Mike hails from Hempstead, New Jersey and attended and played basketball at Sir George Williams University in Montreal in 1971-73. When Sir George Williams and Loyola College merged to form Concordia University in 1974, Mike became the head coach of the Stingers Men's basketball team at only 24 years of age. In 1975 he took over the Women's program and coached the team till 1985. He then moved to Toronto to take over the ...

 The Making of a World Champion This 200th blog entry for Tuesdays With Dave was an idea I got in June after the Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA Championship, and have been chasing down ever since. This week's blog, looks at the journey  of Olympia Sports Camp camper, High school phenom at Sacred Heart in Ottawa, two-sport athlete at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, professional basketball player in Europe and Canada's CEBL ( Canadian Elite Basketball League) and dedicated and empathetic personal trainer  Sean Stoqua. Some quotes for this blog are taken from my first book: Can't Miss: The Kevin Pangos Story. Sean's impactful journey to World Champion is inspiring in terms of the people he has had in his inner circle virtually from birth, and the people he was fortunate to meet along his journey, but also the trials and injuries that may have played a huge role in where he is today. Empathetic ? He's been there. The Olympia Sports Camp connection  (that...