The more we get to talk to people about the book A Hero's' Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp the more the book  is being seen as a collection of stories about the heroic journeys of people who happened to have come together at a summer camp. The book does have an historic aspect to it, but these stories can inspire those who have never been to Olympia but can relate to the steps through their own journey, and these stories can take Olympians down memory lane, visualizing the very steps of the journey. 

But this Saturday in Sarnia it was my own path that brought out an aspect of the hero's journey that I reflect on. The impact we  have in others people's lives may not be known for years, if ever.

Let me introduce you to Lisa Voisey.

In 1984 I went to teacher's college at Brock and thought that while I was there maybe I could offer my services to help out with the women's basketball team and their first-year head coach, legend Chris Critelli. One of the players on that team was this rookie point guard from Sarnia. An absolute competitor who would do anything to help her team win, Lisa struggled with her shot, and went through a lack of playing time that most players go through. Lisa and I connected right away and we would spend hours after practice throughout the season working on her shot. Her work ethic made her a valuable member of the Badgers for five years.

The societal scorecard would measure that relationship as coach helps young player get better, gain confidence, and success followed. The reality is much different. Yes the coach helped the player but the player helped the coach too. The hours we worked together helped this rookie coach learn the path and level of commitment it would take for others to get to the post-secondary level. This in turn helped me when coaching high school kids over a 30 year career. They benefited partly because of the lessons Lisa taught me. That is what a coherent society is all about, we are in this together. 

The weird part of this part of the journey is that I only coached at Brock for one year but feels like so much longer. Lisa and I have connection that time and distance can  not diminish.  The cool part of the reunion was that Lisa quoted a mantra of Kevin Pangos' that she read in my first book Can't Miss. She firmly believes that a great attitude about living and learning is " Always Thankful, Never Satisfied."

The Tour Of Olympia takes us to Newmarket and London next weekend. Two more hotbeds of Olympia alumni. Help spread the word and make for an awesome reunion. Here are the details of the upcoming events. See you there!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
 Karl Svoboda began his rugby career at Belleville's Centennial Secondary School and the Belleville Bulldogs club team. When he started with the Bulldogs at 16 he was the club's youngest player. When he retired from the game he was the club's oldest, and probably most accomplished. Karl had success in rugby the world over. He won three OUA championships with the University of Toronto Blues and he first made Canada's national team in 1985. He ended up being team captain of the national team for years and played in the first three Rugby World Cups in 1987, 1991, and 1995. He also played senior rugby for the Ajax Wanderers and attended the prestigious Oxford University in England at the dawn of professional rugby in 1996. I gleaned this information from research because for a decade or more of sharing week 5 coaching duties and sitting around campfires this understated superstar would rather play guitar and talk about fishing or that day's bike ride or swim than boast
Read more
Image
In the summer of 2019,  Blaine Scatcherd  was introducing himself at the opening meeting of week 5 and told the assembly of coaches that he worked as a counsellor at Olympia for 4 ¾ years. People who knew the story, including Dave Grace, roared with laughter at the self-effacing honesty Blaine showed when recounting an incident that may have been the worst in his career, yet a defining moment that changed him forever and made him a better teacher and coach, and a better person.    Blaine Scatcherd is from Ottawa, where he was coached in football at Glebe Collegiate Institute by Olympia coach Skip Riddell. He went on to play football at Acadia University and played professionally in France for 2 years before embarking on his teaching profession.   “Skip recommended to me in grade 11 that I work at Olympia as it was a great place for an athlete and would-be coach, so I applied to Olympia with Skip’s reference. I went down to Toronto for a group interview and thought I aced it. I didn’t g
Read more
Image
They say that a picture tells a thousand words. How about two pictures? In the writing of A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp I got to interview a lot of people dedicated to Olympia and to the vision of Dave Grace. Out of this process I learned three things about the 50- year journey of the staff of Olympia: 1- Olympia inspires young people 2- Staff inspire others to do the same 3- Staff move on in their lives, carrying Olympia with them, while others replace  Staff like Randy Kipfer and Kevin O'Reilly This picture of Harlem Globetrotter Curly Neal with some amazing counsellors can be found in the book at the start of Chapter 6-Allies and Ogres . It captures an Olympia moment shared by good friends and a world-class basketball entertainer, but the insert is the key element of an Olympia journey that spans decades.  There are literally hundreds of stories of staff who have graced the lands of Interlaken. Every story is unique, every story is echoed th
Read more