Tuesday's With Dave

The Hero's legacy continues to grow The last two weeks took Joy and I to Victoria and White Rock, BC. It was a great trip to see family and friends and to honour my late nephew, Patrick Kennedy Dooley, at the annual Pat Dooley Memorial Golf Tournament.  The weekend got me reflecting about the life of Pat Dooley. He was a talented multi-sport athlete and  a great student, but golf was his true passion. One wonders, sadly, what might have been. Pat lost  so many life milestones that he never got to experience;  High school graduation, post-secondary academic and athletic success, perhaps getting married, and so much more that people may take for granted. I also got to reflecting that, although Pat's journey was cut short in 2008 at 16 years of age, his legacy continues to grow. The golf tournament, in its ninth event, had 144 golfers there to honour Pat. The tournament continues to raise money for the Kwantlen University Turf Management Program that Pat was going to en...

 The People we meet... are all connected  I had the good fortune to teach at the same high school as Jason Riley for many years. As a CFL fan I was enamoured by the fact that my colleague had won a Vanier Cup at UBC and then a Grey Cup with my beloved Ti-Cats. Jason and I had a lot in common with our love of sports and high level coaching. When I wrote my first book, Can't Miss: The Kevin Pangos Story , Jason was supportive and said that he too would love to write a book someday. This blog is not about Jason Riley. When I was writing my second book, A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp , I hired a local editor, a woman I had never met. Her name is Jennifer Sharman. Not only did Jennifer apply her skill and passion into making the stories in my book come alive, but her journey became one of the most poignant in my book writing process. It turned out that she and I had a connection as she had been treated for cancer by my wife Joy, an oncology nurse. E...

Everybody Watches Women's Sports  In 2024 women's sports have attained a level of excitement, support and inclusion never seen. The formation and success of the PWHL ( Professional Women's Hockey League) is exhibit one. The NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament is filled with players whose talent resonates with star-driven media coverage, and are better people. Added to this the teams share the ball and play defence in entertaining fashion that has many basketball people saying that this year the women's tournament is more fun to watch than the men's.  Sunday's  NCAA final between Iowa and South Carolina was the most watched basketball game in the last five years. Men or Women. College or NBA. Its like a seismic shift toward sport for all, and the entertainment value of women's sport has taken place. This environment of inclusion is important for the journey of young people watching, who may be dreaming tonight of being the next Caitlin Clark or Natalie Spo...

 Olympia By The Numbers Probably the best part of the journey of writing A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp was the time I got to spend with Dave Grace, interviewing him to learn his journey, the journey of the formation of the camp, and the evolution of the message of the Hero's Journey. One of those interviews in the office in Scarborough was epic in that it lasted about four hours, and when we finished I made a flippant comment that I should start a blog and call it Tuesdays with Dave, stealing the idea from Mitch Albom's great book, Tuesdays with Morrie. That comment turned into reality. Welcome to the 150th entry into Tuesday's with Dave. The early blog entries involved taking stories from the book, then it evolved into a look at storied alumni campers, coaches, and staff of the camp. And now it is helping launch the OLYMPIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION . The list of fantastic journeys of the alumni of a camp that has been in existence since 1974 ...