Three Generations

 

Olympia Sports Camp is recognized as almost family with the people we share a week with every summer, but some of the great stories are when it is actual family that shares in life on Oxbow Lake. 

 

Such is the beautiful story of Melanie Gardner and her daughter Kerra Wadley.

 

Melanie first got introduced to Olympia through the basketball tournaments in the fall. She was teaching at O’Neill Collegiate in Oshawa and took her team for years, always with a built-in water-girl on the bench in daughter Kerra. Dave Grace liked what he saw in the way she handled her teams and offered her a spot coaching week 4 in the summer.

 

The Gardner family Olympia journey started in 1991. Kerra was 8 and younger sister Melanie was 5, and it’s still going strong with Kerra’s daughters Maddie and Riley in tow. More on the third generation later.

 

Melanie learned very quickly that part of the culture of Olympia is the light-hearted approach to life off the courts. Six hours on the court per day but so much fun throughout.  Everyone loved the bonds that formed and, with many young coach’s kids around the same age, the camaraderie was fantastic. The two daughters grew in the basketball program and Melanie liked to NOT coach her daughters, and to be coached by people she respected greatly. Week 4 being all-girls week there was a side benefit for Kerra as she watched her mom coach for years and years.

 

“I see Week 4 and the empowerment of women to be typical Dave. He understands  that women need women as role models,” Kerra says,” My mom just works her hardest to get things done, and I got to watch that at Olympia every year from a very young age. Olympia allowed me to watch what a woman in action looks like, who goes out and gives it everything she's got, and that effort and confidence brings deep respect from other people. That's my mom."

 

The daughters loved Olympia so much that they eventually came back as counsellors. Kerra’s  interview is the stuff of legend.

 

“Dave’s questioning was so hard. He just kept asking and asking for deeper detail as to what my goals were and why I wanted to work at Olympia,” Kerra recalls, “I finally broke into tears and blurted that I wanted to work at his camp so that I could become a good person. He repeated the thought by asking me if what I wanted to get out of Olympia was to become a good person and I said yes. He said well that’s that and hired me on the spot. All these years later Dave and I still joke about that moment, and he asks me every year how it’s going becoming a good person.”

 

“That's what I had experienced as a kid growing up here with all of these amazing mentors and role models. That's what I wanted to be as a teenager. So, I spent three years here and I think I grew so much because of the people who would challenge me to do better. My mom would come week 4 and then she'd actually then added on coming week 7 so she could spend more time with me in the summertime.”

 

“No matter the phase I am in life Olympia has always represented the like-minded, caring people that I was surrounded by,” Kerra recalls,” Life is always changing, but one constant is the people and memories of the life and lessons of Olympia. These challenges weren’t coming from my parents, they were coming from people I admired and people that I grew up not wanting to disappoint. I felt that as a little kid, I felt it as a teenager. The lessons are engrained in me to this day.”

 

Kerra’s transition from counsellor to coach took a long time and is what makes this story unique. While Kerra was in university at Acadia and then teacher’s college at Lakehead Melanie kept coming to camp. Why? She was holding on to the precious family cabin week 4, waiting for Kerra to take over. Kerra was away from Olympia for five years but came back to camp and volunteered to join her mom week 7, where they roomed together in the Motel unit for 6 or 7 years. Mom also kept coming week 4. 

 

Kerra married in 2010 and had two children, Maddie and Riley. The transition for everyone in the family was taking shape. Now grandma Melanie suggested that her time as an Olympia coach was getting short. Kerra could take the week 4 family cabin and she would come help out with the two girls. A true reversal of life at Olympia. Kerra explains;

“My mom and I would switch off coaching and looking after the kids. That would give me a bit of the coaching while spending time with the girls in this beautiful place. This all happened because mom kept coming and holding the family cabin for us.”

 

Father Time, as they say, is undefeated. Melanie loved the coaching but was finding it more and more tiring to be on those asphalt courts for six hours a day and helping with two rambunctious young Olympians.

 

“At the end of the day I was sixty-five years old and still running the division. I loved the coaching, I loved the campers and counsellors, but I was found it draining and wondered whether I was doing a hundred percent every time. So, my time had come, and I retired.”

 

The retired coach kept coming with her daughter and granddaughters and became known to the week 4 family as the ‘grandma of leisure.’

 

Here comes the third generation. Maddie and Riley are both outgoing and confident and at their young age have learned the value of hard work and passion at Olympia. Maddie did the zip line at 5 and that fall went to her kindergarten class and told them that the zip line had conquered her fears, and that she had gotten out of her comfort zone. Show and tell I’d say. Yes, she was 5.

 

Riley, then not yet three years old, came over to our interview and said that mommy had to get to session. Upon prodding she regaled us with a line or two from Sweet Caroline just to make our day complete.The future of Olympia is in great hands.

 

The bond between mother and daughter, between Melanie Gardner and Kerra Wadley, was enriched over many years at Olympia sports Camp in a beautiful, heart-warming story about paying it forward and playing it forward. Mom first.

 

“I have loved watching my daughter go from water girl on my basketball teams at those Olympia tournaments to now carrying on the love of sport and teaching young female athletes to be the best they can be. It’s hard to describe the pride I get seeing this.”

 

Kerra reflects on the power of her mom when talking about her daughters.

 

“Maddie and Riley continue the circle that my mom showed me.  As leaders we show others that this is what it's all about. This is what real competence, real beauty and real love for life looks like. Teaching the value of being who you truly are and not making excuses. The beauty and value of Olympia is that it gives us this platform every summer.”

 

Back to Kerra’s interview with Dave Grace oh so many years ago, what better definition of being a good person than the story of Melanie Gardner and Kerra Wadley. 

 

 

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.