World Renowned Olympia Sports Camp

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Olympian Josh Collins. Josh learned a  lot about basketball and life on the courts of Olympia.  He had a lot of great things to say about the impact camp had on him as a young player, an  impact that helped him have  great career at the University of Windsor and a few years as a professional basketball player. The reason todays interview was special was that, through the power of zoom, Josh and I spoke for an hour, me in Burlington Ontario and he in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. What an awesome way to connect and re-connect.

The interview got me to reflect on how far-reaching the impact of Olympia is. Olympians are world renowned! Olympia coaches and campers are from around the world, a high percentage of staff are brought in from other countries. Greg Rogers has led numerous groups throughout the years to countries like Kenya and Tanzania. Literally world wide.

Olympia comes down to the people.

Good friend and fellow Olympian Rich MacPherson gave me a great  idea for A Hero's Journey: From Little  Norway to Olympia Sports Camp. It would sort of be like Chicken Soup for The Soul so we have called the chapter the Soul of Olympia. This is where people can express a memory or a feeling about camp and share it in a book about Olympia. 500 words. The result has been so many great stories that shows the breadth and depth of the Olympia experience. If anyone wants to write that story that you know is in you email me at coachdools71@gmail.com. We  share one such great story this week.


Kendra Lindsay nee Vardon

My first true love, the first time I can truly say I was IN LOVE, was in 1997, when my parents allowed me to go to Olympia Sports Camp and play the best sport in the world, basketball, for one whole week. I was a gawky 13 year old, heading into grade 9, hoping to make my high school Jr Girls team. After careful consideration, I chose week #9, the closest I could get to tryouts. I couldn’t believe I got to play basketball for a whole week! 6 hours a day! And everyone else there wanted to play as well! To me, it was paradise.

3 years later, after consecutive week #9 visits and one attempt at #7 volleyball, in my mind, there was no other choice for owner Dave Grace – he had to hire me.  Dave and Olympia Sports Camp defined my youth, my work ethic, and my passion for sport. I was a counsellor for five years, then a Sr. Staff for one and a coach for five years after that. The children I got to meet in cabin and session, the fellow counsellors I lived and worked with over the years, the coaches I learned from, the other staff at the camp in the kitchens and on the grounds – these were my family.  Unless you worked at a camp you never understand how 10 weeks together binds you for life. We grew up together, we faced challenges, we loved and we lost; we were the people in the motivational movies that Dave loved to show us. To spend every summer with family who were both like and not like you was the best life lesson we could ever learn, and Dave gave us that.

When I look back now at those formative years, I think about how lucky all of us were to spend that time in our lives in such a positive environment.  I didn’t understand until I started raising teenagers, that Dave Grace deserves accolades far beyond what he has received or probably ever will in this lifetime get recognized for.  We lived in a bubble, for that is certain, where we were taught to take chances, to put our best effort forward, to believe in ourselves, no matter what we did in our lives.  Having those kind of messages, through song, “Dave talks”, motivational movies, etc, summer after summer, gave us a step forward in life that most teens don’t receive regularly enough. I know where my self-confidence comes from: Olympia Sports Camp.

I wish every child could hear Dave just once tell the story, and that everyone, at those points in their lives, will Take the Bat Off Their Shoulder and Swing. 

They say you never forget your first love.  I know I won’t. OSC forever. 



16 year old Kendra being dropped by her dad for her first summer on staff 1990

 

This blog is about the journey of the  writing of the book  A Hero's Journey: From Little Norway to Olympia Sports Camp. The blog will contain excerpts from the book and my personal thoughts on what the place and the people that make up Olympia's journey is all about. The title comes from the great book Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom. The blog's title is recognizing Dave Grace as Camp Director but all content is my own.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
 Karl Svoboda began his rugby career at Belleville's Centennial Secondary School and the Belleville Bulldogs club team. When he started with the Bulldogs at 16 he was the club's youngest player. When he retired from the game he was the club's oldest, and probably most accomplished. Karl had success in rugby the world over. He won three OUA championships with the University of Toronto Blues and he first made Canada's national team in 1985. He ended up being team captain of the national team for years and played in the first three Rugby World Cups in 1987, 1991, and 1995. He also played senior rugby for the Ajax Wanderers and attended the prestigious Oxford University in England at the dawn of professional rugby in 1996. I gleaned this information from research because for a decade or more of sharing week 5 coaching duties and sitting around campfires this understated superstar would rather play guitar and talk about fishing or that day's bike ride or swim than boast
Read more
Image
In the summer of 2019,  Blaine Scatcherd  was introducing himself at the opening meeting of week 5 and told the assembly of coaches that he worked as a counsellor at Olympia for 4 ¾ years. People who knew the story, including Dave Grace, roared with laughter at the self-effacing honesty Blaine showed when recounting an incident that may have been the worst in his career, yet a defining moment that changed him forever and made him a better teacher and coach, and a better person.    Blaine Scatcherd is from Ottawa, where he was coached in football at Glebe Collegiate Institute by Olympia coach Skip Riddell. He went on to play football at Acadia University and played professionally in France for 2 years before embarking on his teaching profession.   “Skip recommended to me in grade 11 that I work at Olympia as it was a great place for an athlete and would-be coach, so I applied to Olympia with Skip’s reference. I went down to Toronto for a group interview and thought I aced it. I didn’t g
Read more
Image
They say that a picture tells a thousand words. How about two pictures? In the writing of A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp I got to interview a lot of people dedicated to Olympia and to the vision of Dave Grace. Out of this process I learned three things about the 50- year journey of the staff of Olympia: 1- Olympia inspires young people 2- Staff inspire others to do the same 3- Staff move on in their lives, carrying Olympia with them, while others replace  Staff like Randy Kipfer and Kevin O'Reilly This picture of Harlem Globetrotter Curly Neal with some amazing counsellors can be found in the book at the start of Chapter 6-Allies and Ogres . It captures an Olympia moment shared by good friends and a world-class basketball entertainer, but the insert is the key element of an Olympia journey that spans decades.  There are literally hundreds of stories of staff who have graced the lands of Interlaken. Every story is unique, every story is echoed th
Read more