Tuesday's With Dave

The Lady in White     A lot of people can say, quite literally, that their lives have been spent at Olympia Sports Camp. Sam Southworth, though, has been at camp for his ENTIRE life. Born in 1979, Sam spent his first year of life  at camp, where the nurses stay now, as his mom, Janet MacRae, was the camp nurse. Back in those days one nurse was on staff for an entire summer. Sam’s stepdad Gary Southworth was an original staff member at the old Winnebagoe site and coached at camp until Sam was old enough to be a counselor. Sam has literally gone from diapers and soothers and babysat by Jackie Zicaro to senior staff and now coach. Sam was counselor for four years starting in 1996. His paternal grandparents were Olympia’s original caretakers. They were honoured in 2000 with the naming of the Gerald and Margaret Withers Sportsplex and a mural was unveiled in the gym in a special ceremony during camp. Sam now coaches basketball week 5.         ...

  A Typical Olympia Family   This week we meet Olympian Casey Pfenning. Kelly and Norm Pfenning adopted their son Mitch from El Salvador in 1992 and decided to adopt a daughter and went to China in 1998 to bring Casey into their family.   Here’s the wild world of Olympia connections. I had the good fortune to coach Jackie Zicaro (nee Shaw) in high school. Jackie had gone to Olympia as a babysitter, as a camper, as a counselor, and for the last 20 years as a coach. When she was in grade 8 Jackie was coached at Olympia by Patty Pangos. Patty and Kelly Pfenning had played basketball against each other, Kelly at Queen’s and Patty at McMaster. Norm Pfenning played football at Queen’s but got into coaching basketball, eventually getting up to Olympia for week 9. Patty was teaching at Dr. Denison HS in Newmarket when Kelly got a job there. In 1998 Kelly needed to take time off to go to China to go through the process of adopting Casey. The LTO position was filled by…. Jackie Zic...

We Mentor Because We Were Mentored  The list of coaches who have brought their talents to Olympia must be immense. A chapter in A Hero's Journey: From Little Norway to Olympia Sports Camp  is dedicated to the hundreds of coaches who have mentored thousands of campers and counsellors. One such coach and mentor is long long time Olympian John Corrente. Here are John's thoughts on Olympia Director  Dave  Grace.                                                                           John and Linda Corrente “ A lot of great coaches helped me a lot in the early days and to me that was all Dave, who he hired and how he treated them as leaders.  Dave was always so hands on when running the camp, while at the same time trusting in our coaching, our...

OLYMPIA ISN'T WHERE YOU LIVE, IT'S HOW YOU LIVE I got this quote from Eric Johnston , who shares his Olympia perspective this week. Eric began going to Olympia when he was 4 as his dad coached week 7. He recalls when Limberlost Road  was just an old logging road and the camp had no high ropes stuff and the gym wasn't even there. He remembers as a little boy being devastated on Saturday when they had to leave camp after the emotional closing ceremonies. He looked forward to the days when he could actually participate in session and eventually he would work there. He did reach his goal and was a counsellor for seven years and then coached another 8 years, going week 7 himself.. Apparently he was accepted by the Tribal Council of week 7.  Pictures and a thousand words? The first picture is of Eric and Jay Bentley at pre camp in their first year as counsellors in 1992. How many hundreds of counsellors over the years can relate to this moment, this feeling, and this exact place ...

MINDSET IS KEY   Remember that Olympia is not just a place where, it's a people who.  There are the lessons and then there are the people who live those lessons and teach us how to be a hero of our own story. The lesson that was central to ‘Dave Talk’ back in the day was the clock. Dave used the twelve hours of the clock as a lesson in the journey we are all on. I can still see all the counselors acting out each hour. " Ram 'er into fourth" or "Wherever you are be there."  The lesson at 3 O’clock was “Mindset is Key” and it’s a lesson that can be seen all over camp by a lot of people, people like Denise Evans . In Denise’s many roles at Olympia she has been a leader and helped a lot of campers and counselors find their why and find their way. It's cool that now, after years of schooling,  she is doing the same thing at a professional level. She must be an amazing resource! Check her out on Facebook at Denise Evans Therapy. She has taken her Olympia lesso...