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 as the team's radio  colour commentator for 25 years. He was inducted into the media wing of the Canadian Football Hall of fame in 2000. Aside from his football and media career, Martin taught and coached football for 26 years at Port Credit Secondary School. He founded the Mississauga Football League and was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.

What this biographical information, taken from the website "Three Down Nation," is missing is Coach Martin's impact on the growth of Olympia Sports Camp. For  decades football was huge at Olympia, with  coaches like Peter Martin, Ron Bell, Rich Hawkins, Ed Turek, Doug Collins, Greg Marshall, and Jamie Bone and so many others. These coaches had resumes that made them stand out at but what really made the bond more concrete was  that these world-class athletes, now coaches would follow a hard day's coaching with stories, pranks and laughter that truly makes Olympia unique. Work hard. Play hard.

I'll leave it to a brief vignette from basketball coach John Petrushchak to describe the sense of community within the coaches and the amount of fun people like Peter Martin provided for the Olympia community:

"Peter Martin was involved in the football camp and he and I were good friends. We used to play shuffleboard. Charlie Simpson, Bob Bain's longtime assistant at York, and I were partners. Peter was doing the Toronto Argonauts play-by-play on the radio in those years and he had to leave early one year to go to an Argo game. Before we started, he said, " Listen, you guys think you're so good. If you beat us, I'll mention your names on the radio." That gave Charlies and I the motivation and we kicked their butts, Coach P continues, And he did it. At halftime, he said "I have to give a big shout out to Charlie Simpson and John Petrushchak, who are the Olympia Sports Camp Shuffleboard champions." He actually did it! Little things like that make Olympia what it is."

These great friends had a lot of fun while influencing a generation of coaches and hundreds of athletes. Now that's a hero's journey. 



Excited for This Saturdays book signing at Indigo. Trust the process 





















 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 

The OAA needs your help.  If you are an Olympia Sports Camp Alumni we need you to register for the OAA and get those in your circle of Olympia contacts to do the same. The link is at:

 https://forms.gle/woWsggqM7zpUyHge9

OLYMPIA HAS AN APP! 


Olympia has created an App that will allow Alumni to connect with the camp events, read content about some amazing Olympia people, and maybe sign your child or grandchild up for the week of their lives. Simply use this QR code to get to the App and all it offers. It will take you to the Olympia website and so much more!




Why should I buy a book?

- See the 12 steps of the hero's journey come alive

- Learn a lot about yourself by reading about the journey of others.

-Learn about the land of Interlaken, from its indigenous beginnings, to the European migration, to the Norwegians during the second world war, to the launch of Olympia Sports Camp.

- Learn about the Community of Olympia that spans over 50 years.

- Learn that Olympia is a Community of Everyday Heroes

- Learn that you, too, are a hero of your own journey

How can I buy a book

-available for order through Amazon and Indigo.ca

-available at Indigo, Burlington Brant Street location.

- available at The Different Drummer Book Store on Locust Street in Burlington\

- available at Cedar Canoe Books on Main St in Huntsville

- available at the Olympia Tuck and Pro Shop

- Etransfer me $30 and I'll drive it to your house ! 

- available online at aherosjourney.ca

- audiobook version is available at Audible, Amazon, and iTunes 

If you would like us to come to your town for a book event or get copies into your favourite bookstore , email me at coachdools71@gmail.com. We travel well.

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