The Land and It’s People



A project like writing a book, or any journey one takes in life, can take you down many tangents and new directions. Let me describe one I’m on. 

 

The 47-year history of Olympia Sports Camp is an impressive legacy that is being chronologized in “ A Hero’s Journey: From (Beyond) Little Norway to Olympia Sports Camp.” Impressive too is the European settlement process in Muskoka that started in the late 1800’s and led to the settlement of Interlaken and Limberlost Lodge in the 1920’s. Impressive also is the very land we call home for a week, or ten weeks, every summer, was a training ground for the Norwegian Air Force during WW 11. But the truth is that, like any historical exploration, there is so much more.

 

10,000+ years more.

 

The process to gather the history of the land before it became home to Olympia in 1979 led to a lot about the European arrivals but thoughts about the beauty of the land, the almost spiritual and communal way in which Olympia sports camp is run led to searching for more detail about the indigenous life before any of this took place. What were these people like?

 

I found two PHD papers on indigenous life in what is called Lower Georgian Bay and even found out that the name Muskoka comes from the name of an Ojibwe or Chippewa tribe chief named Musquakie which means "not easily turned back in the day of battle."

 

These papers confirmed the spiritual nature of these amazing people, who treated the land with a reverence that allowed them to be very prosperous for so long. In their eyes, no one owns the land. God owns the land, and people are the stewards. Treat the land with respect and create good for mankind.  In my opinion, very much like the brief yet exciting 47 year run of Olympia Sports Camp.

 

That spirituality really hit home when the discovery of indigenous bodies at a former residential school in Kamloops, BC hit the national news. The government and several churches were trying to strip these people of their spirituality and killing kids along the way… in the name of religion? Huh?

 

The next layer of the onion led me to looking at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations, especially those relating to sport. I then connected with Ontario basketball coach and good friend Greg Henhawk of the Mohawk of the Grand River. He is known as a Knowledge Keeper and his guidance not only taught me a lot about indigenous life, but he led me to a Skype meeting with Natalie Welch, a professor of Sport Management at Linfield University in Oregon. 

My chat with this inspiring Cherokee leader cemented the idea that indigenous people regard sport and activity as a sign of community resilience and a vehicle to build strong connections. Sport has the potential to create a positive change and gives people a platform that might not otherwise exist to spread this notion of the power of sport in the community. Natalie talked about the aspirational and magical power of sport and that we are nothing without community, thus calling on us to always give back for the good of future generations.

 

Sound familiar to those Olympians reading this? Talking to Natalie felt like I was talking to Dave Grace. Two generations apart in age, two differing backgrounds, two different countries, these two motivating  leaders share a beautiful view of our journey, our Hero’s Journey.


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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