Coaching Is Caring

Livio Iannucci’s love and passion for all sports came as a part of his journey to acceptance, and that in turn created a legacy of coaching that has impacted hundreds. Livio was born in Italy and moved to Canada when he was 3 and a half years old. He found friends and positive recognition through sports. He made connections and developed social skills in a new country with a strange language through sports. He went on to play volleyball at University of Toronto, but his bigger impact came when he took the lessons provided him by coaches when he was young and decided that he loved teaching, and he loved the sense of giving back. To make the community better.

 

The best teacher Livio  ever had was his dad. His dad loved to figure things out and build things and that was the path that Livio took, teaching science and technology and physical and health education over his teaching career. Now that he is retired, he does renovations and loves it. His dad passed away when Livio was 21 but the impact of a life well-lived carries on with his son.

 

“My family had little money so I played sports through the school system,” I respect so much the teachers who gave of their time so that I could assimilate into Canadian culture and grow as a person. I saw my entire teaching and coaching career as my turn to share with others what was shared with me. 

Sports is a way to learn about life. It’s an excuse to learn and grow. In all my years at Sacred Heart Catholic High School in Newmarket, as a teacher, department head and then vice-principal, I taught that a love of movement was a key to happiness, positive energy was huge, and that the mind was far more important than the body. Emotional fitness is a big part of what Dave Grace teaches us about individual and group coherence. Emotional fitness is needed to excel socially, academically, intellectually, physically, and spiritually.”

 

This philosophy sounds familiar and is a reason why Livio is a fixture at Olympia. He sees the sphere of energy created by Dave Grace daily as a subconscious connection within which we all have the chance to succeed. He has known Dave Grace for a long time and says that Dave is a fundamentally shy guy who forced himself to get out of his comfort zone by getting in front of people. Now he's one of the best. To Livio, Dave shows by example how to challenge your demons and challenge your fears to grow.

 

“There is not enough money to buy the experience you gain from a place like Olympia.  My four kids were fortunate to come to Olympia and all four have become high achievers and dreamers. They all have been campers and counsellors at Olympia, and they have learned the basic premise of Olympia that it’s never about the money or the societal scorecard. If you think it’s about money you’ve lost your platform for impacting others, which is our true calling.”

 

Livio believes that adults give young people the opportunities, but it’s up to the kids to gain  the experience and then decide their path, their goals. If that is the process of leadership, you help develop more leaders. The centre of the whole process is caring about others.

 

“In coaching If you show your athletes who you really are the relationships will be truer and its better for the kids in the long run. If they see your vulnerability and passion, they will learn those traits are in them as well,” Livio says,” I learned this from so many people throughout my career and am thrilled every day to be able to share this with the young people I meet. The confidence to let go is a sign of emotional fitness and that vulnerability is a big part of growth.”

 

Part of Livio’s athletic growth took him to the University of Toronto and one of his teammates there was Tim Sim. Later when Tim was in teachers’ college one of his associate teachers was Dave Grace. When Dave wanted to expand his camp programming of elite sport he turned to volleyball, and he turned to his Toronto connections. Livio played four years of varsity volleyball and decided to forgo his fifth year so he could run the University of Toronto Schools volleyball program under the auspices of yet another Olympia connection in Ron Wakelin, who has written a few books on the value of games in teaching. Another philosophy that sounds familiar.

 

The elite aspect of Olympia changed and the next challenge that Dave had, and Livio accepted, was doing more generalized sports programming by offering Tri-Sports, which is a combination of basketball, volleyball, and soccer. To Livio this makes complete sense if spreading the word to the most possible people is the goal.

 

“Olympia has always had a strong heart as it’s core value,” Livio explains,” but if you have a strong heart you need to develop more capillaries and let them grow. Olympia now has something for everyone, so that kids of differing passions and interests can still have an Olympia experience. Olympia Sports Camp is not about developing world-class athletes; it’s about developing world-class people.”

 

How long has this world-class person known Dave and Olympia? He remembers going to Deerhurst on Wednesday nights with Dave and Mary Grace and dancing to the tunes of a young female singer who was trying to find her way in the country singing realm. That young singer was Shania Twain. He always loved the way Mary brought you into the Olympia family yet kept her space.

 

To Livio the success of Olympia also comes down to having fun. The structure that Dave has put in place has allowed coaches to put the camper’s enjoyment first, but he included the development of the counsellor’s leadership and the knowledge and passion, and fun, of the coaches.

 

“Every day I start with an espresso and some deep breathing meditation and then figure out what the campers need and how I can help them get the most out of the day. We meet with our counsellors before and after every session and we all have equal input on programming and scheduling.  That empathy for where the campers and counsellors are on their path goes a long way to create the bond of a community of leaders.

The connection Livio sees between and among the different coaches and different sports makes for a priceless community unto itself. The evening session in the coach’s lounge is a celebration of the day, and Dave’s way of thanking.

 Livio compares the coaching community to a stew.

 

“Every coach brings their own ingredient, and the stew is amazing and gets better every year,” Livio explains,” We all share of ourselves, and the result is that we come out of ourselves and think of others. The one-ness becomes team-ness. The coherence in the hero’s journey goes from the self to the team, to the community."

 

 Livio holds a special place in his heart for Olympia.

 

"The spiritual vibe and energy of Olympia will be remembered forever. At Olympia I sense the true love of life and others. The community of Olympia is now generational. So many people at Olympia have impacted my life in a profound way. In turn, If I have helped one person along their journey then I am passing on lessons and sharing in the Olympia vibe and that makes me very proud.

Pay It Forward.  2022 will be a great year as the camp will return and flourish, but we need to be allies. Now is the time to get the word out to our circle of influence The camp website is  www.olympiasportscamp.com Check out the website. Register your kids. Get your kids to get a few friends to join them at camp. Send a note to your club teams, your school teams. Do it for the kid whose life will be changed because they got to go to Olympia Sports Camp in the summer of 2022. Help spread the vibe that after two years the best sports camp in Canada ( with the four reasons we hear at every opening) will be back and be better than ever.  

 

 

 

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.