Joy and I, in our first instalment of the Journey Of Olympia, just completed 12 different book signing events since Thanksgiving. We sold books, we made some unbelievable connections, enjoyed each and every event no matter the outcome, and planted seeds for the future growth of the message of this book. This past weekend there were many reunions but the most impressive moment was hearing a man speak who I had never met before. I thank Doug and Sandra Ranton for inviting Joy and I to share our book because we got to listen to the inspiring words of Hunter Pinke.

 


Hunter's journey brought out many universal truths of the path we are all on, and his emotional delivery and painful recollections had a HS auditorium hushed on every word. His vulnerability and passion for growth was enthralling. He talked about thinking Beyond ourselves, looking at every day with gratitude for being alive, having choices and being loved. He told us not to think of the glass being half full or half empty, but to be glad that we have a glass, and that it is refillable. He also said that we have people that add to our water, and others who take water away. Amazing words coming from a young man who was accomplished in so many ways before his path was altered by a skiing accident in 2019. You just have to check out his website. It's Hunterpinke.com. He has a bunch of Youtube videos that will inspire.


The best part of his talk? For me it felt like such a parallel to the stories in A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp. Every journey is different, every journey is the same. I was sitting in the audience that was mainly high school basketball players in town for a tournament but Hunter related to young and old alike. He made me reflect on my own journey and the journey of writing this book. He vividly points out that there are no bad days. There are tough days, but no bad days. Mindset is key.

Thanks to key members of the Waterloo basketball community for making this happen. We are all better for it.

Craig Nickel, who coached Jacob Ranton and is best friends with Doug and Sandra, coaches with Point Guard College PGC, and heard Hunter speak. He thought his message would resonate at the Jacob Ranton Memorial Basketball Tournament. He bounced the idea off Doug and Sandra. They in turn called upon Doros Theodosiou, another Waterloo basketball coach, whose company sponsored Hunter to come to WCI. 

 Hunter's goal was to inspire one person. I can say he reached that goal.

Throughout the day on Friday we got to hear journeys shared by former provincial team player Mano Watsa, another player from McMaster University Lauren Crosby ( nee Crich) Olympia stalwart and good friend Kevin O'Reilly, and, of course Doug and Sandra Ranton.  Even my cousins Mike Hansford and Greg Weir came and that made the day special for Joy and I.


Sunday we ventured to the Venetian Club in Hamilton at the invitation of the Hamilton Board of Approved Basketball Officials. Officiating legends Guy Cipriani and Mario Suffaletta have supported me for a long time and President Paul Johnson shared some kind words. They allowed me to share my journey and they sure made me feel that the basketball community is like a family and that, despite being retired from coaching, I was a valued member of that family. Very humbling to hear.

The people we get to meet on our journey.


I am going to take a  break from TWD for a little bit. I have always been told that you should make your goals public so as we head into a new year I have two plans that I will be working on. One is to produce an audiobook. I''m in the early stages of recording and it is a process that is as exhilarating as it is challenging and very time-consuming. I look forward to the day when we can announce its release. The second goal that I know next to nothing about is to do a podcast. With so many Olympian stories in the book, and so many others that I didn't get to, it lends itself to a podcast, and I think the would be another fun project. 

All the best in 2023. For those who have purchased a book, thanks for the support and I hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane. For those yet to buy one, there will be opportunities to get one from me or you can order one from my publisher at 

https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000114201182

In the Burlington/ Hamilton area you can get it at Different Drummer Bookstore.

It is always available at Amazon and we are working on getting it into Indigo shortly.

Embrace the Journey !


Comments

  1. Greg RogersDecember 20, 2022 at 6:52 AM

    Wishing you , Joy and your family a very Merry Christmas

    ReplyDelete

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