Tuesday's With Dave

 The people we get to meet on our journey. In my early years of coaching at Olympia I switched weeks, fitting in wherever Dave Grace needed me. A few years I went week 8, not knowing at the time that week 8 was the 'originals.' As a young coach I felt like I was with royalty, the best of the best. Olympia started with one week of basketball and then added a week of football at the old Winnebagoe site. For basketball Dave put together a who's who of Ontario coaches and he wanted, no needed, to do the same thing once he started football. Coaches with CFL experience, university coaches, and coaches who wanted to grow the game while growing the Olympia community. Coaches who had personalities bigger than the game, and brought that personality on a daily basis to camp.  Coaches like  Peter Martin. Coach Martin passed away this past weekend at the age of 83. Coach Martin attended Western before playing 104 games for the Argos from 1965 to 1972. After his playing days he served ...

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 t...