Tuesday's With Dave

Next step on the journey   A good friend shared this great perspective on life to motivate me in times of doubt:   The two hardest things in life are to start something and to finish something…   This week the process of producing A Hero’s Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp takes a turn as the manuscript is off to the publisher. This is an exciting stage of any book, but the reality is that there are many steps to go through. What makes it exciting is that, although I’ve been down this path before, there are unknowns that will assuredly come across my path….   I also want to take this chance to say that I will be taking a little break from Tuesdays with Dave and focus on what’s in front of me…. I have done almost 70 blog entries and just need a different focus for now. Even Mitch Albom didn’t do it EVERY Tuesday with Morrie....The blog has allowed me to share much of what the book is made of, and I hope people have enjoyed it and are looking forwa...

A Foreword to A Hero’s Journey Some exciting news this week as the writing process is soon to become the publishing process. A few months back in one of our meetings I brought up with Dave the idea of a foreword to the book and if he had any thoughts on who he’d like to see write it. The list was very short, and Dave implored me to ask Leo Rautins. Great idea, as Leo is a former camper and has been a guest pro for years.   I asked Leo and he too found the prospect of writing the foreword to be something he’d love to do. I put the announcement out on Tuesdays with Dave as this, I felt, would be taking the book to a whole other level. I told Dave the news that Leo was in and he was pumped!   I was pumped too. We all visualize, and I have seen the finished project in my mind’s eye. One image I see is the front cover with the words. “Foreword by Leo Rautins.” For a book about Olympia and the hero’s journey, it doesn’t get much bigger.   A few weeks ago, in another of our...

To honour last week’s International Women’s Day, we look at the life and career of a woman of strength and success, on the court, in the board rooms of USports, and at Olympia Sports Camp.   When one looks at the life and career of Christine Stapleton one sees a story of success and growth, but more so one sees family. A huge family. A family that now includes, and is influenced by, Olympia. Christine was born and raised on a farm in Goderich, Ontario. Strong family values were a big part of the Stapleton household of five daughters and sticking to these values has carried Christine through her path to success.  Christine the player was a two-time National champion at Laurentian University in Sudbury under the tutelage of the late Peter Ennis. She then pursued a career in coaching, heading the program at the University of Regina for nine years, winning Canada West conference Coach of the Year three times, a National Coach of the year once, and the 2001 National title. H...

This week we look briefly at the superintendents who have lent their skill and workmanship to the evolution of Olympia Sports Camp, but as with most things Olympia, it is about family, and the generational feel of a place we call home.    A Hero’s Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp takes us on a journey of the land called Interlaken. We look at the indigenous population that thrived in the area for centuries. We look at the European settlement era and the colonization of Muskoka in the 1800’s. We look at the Norwegian Air Force’s use of the land to help beat back the Nazi’s during WW ll. We look at the years from 1945-1975 when the Kiwanis Club of Toronto ran a camp for underprivileged children, then we look at the years of Dave Grace’s dream coming to fruition. There is a flow and coherence to all these phases of the journey of the land, but it isn’t the land; it’s the people.  Sam and Gary Southworth   When Dave Grace took the bat off the shoulde...