Forever Friends


This entry is a story told to me by Ainslie Thomson, original coach's kid, camper, counsellor and coach.  Ainslie's story takes us down memory lane and shows that friendships forged at Olympia create lifelong allies as we go through our own journey. Ainslie also provided me with a picture. In looking at that picture I see love and friendship but I also see a picture that so many people can replicate within their circle of Olympians. Literally hundreds of groups have sat at those same picnic tables for a picture. Also, a proud papa moment as Ainslie shared with me a side story about Olympians now in reflecting on my son, Daniel. 


Forever Friends by Ainslie Thomson

 

Olympia to me is family, lifelong friends and a community that you are part of regardless of where you are.  I was fortunate to experience Olympia for 15 years as a coaches kid, 2 summers as a camper, counsellor for 3 years and now as a coach. My father was one of the original coaches who supported Dave to build Olympia. At the end of every August my sisters and I would know the summer was coming to a close when we headed to Olympia as a family for my Dad to coach.  As coach’s kids, this was considered a holiday. It would take no time for us to find the other kids that we may only see once a year and fall into step. We would have the run of the camp, meeting our parents only for meals.


Eventually we extended our time at Olympia and came up as campers week 7. This was only buying time until we could finally apply to be counsellors.

 

 My first summer working at Olympia I boarded the bus in Toronto with all the other staff to travel to camp for our training week.  We stopped halfway at the infamous Webers on the side of the highway for lunch. It was in this line up that I met Jen Porter who became my best friend in life.  We sparked up a conversation, ended up in the same training week cabin, worked two summers at camp together and continued to be roommates at McMaster, travelled Europe together and are still closely connected with our families.  Amazing that many of the most important people in my life stemmed from that first training week cabin.

 

 Olympia memories that are so vivid: 

~Dave’s  talk “Take the bat off your shoulder,”

 ~Songs : 500 Hundred miles, original Olympia song (which I can still sing with my sisters at family events) 

~Integral part of my adolescence learning to be independent, responsible,  building communication skills and lifelong friendships

~Influenced my choice to go to McMaster Kinesiology 

~Introducing my own kids to this camp: going down memory lane with the songs.

~Meeting people or reuniting with old friends no matter where you are


                                     Picture taken from in front of the tuck shop in 1989. 

                            That area of camp hasn't changed since. Neither have their friendships. 

                        From Left to Right Leigh Chalmers, Ainslie Thomson, Jen Porter, Lhara Eben 

 

 

                        

Story of Dan:  I have three teenage boys whom all play rep basketball. Last season a university player offered to help my husband coach our oldest son’s team.  He was committed to come to as many tournaments and practices as possible. Throughout the season he took on more of a mentoring role for my son, helping to build his confidence and offer advice to push Jack.  What was more impressive about this young man was after the season was over, he continued to be a great role model for my son. He consistently spent time at the gym training and shooting. It wasn’t until Week 7 this past summer at Olympia when I was a coach that the connection was made that this young man, Daniel Dooley, was also part of the Olympia community. Proud to know young kids like that, making the community better by sharing their gifts.

 

 

 

 The link to the blog is TuesdayswithDave.blogspot.com

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. 

 

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