The journey of writing A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp gave a lot of highlights and stories I'll remember forever but the coolest may have been my connection to Jennifer Sharman, my editor. Several years ago I started writing for local-news.ca an online news service in Burlington. Never having met her, Jennifer and I made a connection simply through her skill with the written word. I would send my articles in, Jennifer would edit my work and bring the story to life. I was impressed with Jennifer's work and passion, so I hired her to edit my work-in-progress book. We worked together, chapter by chapter, idea by idea, and I'm proud to say that my writing, combined with Jennifer's 'magic' made for a book that the Olympia community could be proud of.
This blog is not about Jennifer Sharman
Sorry for the double dip, but the blog entry this week is sort of a reprise of an article I just released on local-news.ca. Burlington people will like the story. Olympia people will like the story.
When I was interviewing Ted, I asked if he had ever been to Olympia, as many aspiring football and basketball players who were looking for the edge to get to play at the next level did.
Ted told me that he indeed had been to Olympia and, although it was a long time ago, Ted has some thoughts on the impact the camp had on his football career. Reading between the lines, the Olympia experince was exactly what Ted needed to get from high school to university football. Fate took care of the rest.
Ted recalls:
"Camp Olympia was my first time going against other players from outside the Halton area. It was also the first time I experienced two a day practices. It was humbling at first without a doubt I needed the challenge and it helped me prepare to play University football. The coaching was really good and I liked the food."
A lot of Olympia first timers go up with a bunch of friends but as you'll read, Ted is driven to success and saved up his money and went to Olympia on his own. It was something he needed, and it paid off.
A Hero’s Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp is based on the teachings of philosopher Joseph Campbell, the basic premise of the book is that we are all heroes of our own journey. The term hero calls to mind anyone who has gone through a journey to make a life for themselves and uses their skills, experience, and talents to impact others and ultimately make the world a better place.
People like Ted Goveia
The 12th step in Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is ‘The Return.’ The journey takes the hero away from their known world on a chosen path where they gather experiences and knowledge so that someday they may return to where they started to share this newfound knowledge for the good of the future generations. This describes the path that Ted Goveia, the new General Manager of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger Cats, has followed.
Ted played football at Burlington’s Assumption High School, watched the Cats whenever he could, then went down east to play at Mount Allison University, got into coaching at a very young age, honed his craft, and his connections, by attending every camp and clinic possible, and has coached and scouted literally from coast to coast in Canada, and became one of Canada’s best evaluators of talent.
All that has led him back home, to the position of GM for the team that he grew up cheering for. In fact, Ted’s mom has been a lifetime fan of the Gold and Black, watching most games, and wasn’t too keen when Ted took his first CFL job with the Toronto Argonauts, of all teams. A mothers love!
I had the good fortune to meet Ted in 2001. I was teaching at Notre Dame High School, at the time a school filled with high level athletes who had post-secondary scouts spending a lot of time recruiting them. Actually, two Burlington schools, Notre Dame and Nelson, reached provincial-level success in both football and basketball and university scouts throughout the OUA were in attendance at most games.
Scouts like Ted Goveia.
In 2001 Goveia was McMaster’s special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator. And what a recruiter he was. Goveia was working in his first full time coaching job, and he was also finding a niche in the recruiting part of the business. You want winning players? Ted will find them, and they’ll be quality people too. Recruiting quality people is a pillar of Ted’s philosophy. Between 2001 and 2004 Goveia at McMaster recruited 36 OUA All Stars and 15 All-Canadian players. These Goveia-recruited high level athletes changed the landscape of football on campus and Mac went on to win three straight Yates Cups (OUA) Championships, including 33 consecutive wins. Goveia knew recruiting. All it takes is relentless energy and a lot of connections, both of which Goveia has.
But Goveia’s journey begins long before that.
He joined the BMFA ( Burlington Minor Football Association) at a young age and he fell in love with football. It was his time at Assumption that maybe changed the direction of his life.
“Sport had always been a big part of my life. I always enjoyed being on a team, but my time at Assumption was crucial in my development and growth as a person. I was struggling at the time—trying to figure life out, and the coaches that worked with us at Assumption High School made the game fun and had a significant impact on not only myself but several of the guys on our team. We learned a lot of lessons on the gridiron. Our Head Coach was Mike Harris—he taught us the value of teamwork, of taking pride in our school, and most of all to never give up.”
“Football was an outlet for me---and really, I would never be in the position I am today if was not for the Coaches and volunteers that worked with us. I am forever grateful for these fantastic role models. I then played for the Burlington Braves of the CFJL, where I got better competition and quality coaching that helped prepare me for university football.”
Goveia took his talents to Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, where he played for three years before fate got in the way and helped shape his journey. An injury ended his playing days, so Ted did the next best thing: he started coaching. He was not much older than some of the players on the team, and he loved it. He became Offensive Coordinator for two years. His years at Mount A taught Ted a lot about the passion and commitment it takes to be successful. A journey that he dreamed as a future possibility from his days and role models at Assumption was now right before his eyes. He loved coaching and was also developing a knack for recruiting and was named recruiting coordinator in 1997.
“When something is your passion, like coaching, you put everything into it and it’s the process that motivates you because the results will take care of themselves. Good daily habits will lead to the desired results. It’s not the scoreboard as much it’s about growth and the meeting of expectations. I love being a part of that. At Mount Allison I barely made any money coaching, but I loved it. To help pay the bills I worked at the Campus Pub and delivered pizza. My time in Sackville was key to my growth—going to a small school you have less resources. You find a way to make the best of whatever it is you’ve got. That’s a skill. To me it was not about the money. Do a good job and the rewards will come, both individually and as a program on the field.”
Ted was hooked.
“ I fell in love with coaching and thought it was a great avenue for helping people. I enjoyed the schemes, the strategy and building teams. I can honestly say that regardless of level or position/titles my joy of the sport has always been the same. I just wanted to do a great job for the people who trusted me to do the job."
The journey wasn’t a straight line.
Ted spent a decade trying to find a full-time job. He took over the reins of the Burlington Braves junior football team from 1998-2000. A big part of the reality of coaching is the impact of connections you make along your journey. Ted attended camps and clinics, making himself available but also making himself known. He was a training camp guest coach for the Toronto Argonauts for 8 years, showing a willingness to work hard and an ability to create a winning environment. He learned that in pro sports winning consistently usually leads to other opportunities. Ted kept quietly doing his best and people were noticing.
The path was just getting started. After his success at McMaster, a job and university he loved, an opportunity on the other side of the country came his way. In 2005 Ted joined the UBC Thunderbirds as the Offensive Coordinator and was promoted to Head Coach in 2006, where he stayed until 2009.
“UBC was an opportunity for me to learn about the country, live in Vancouver and grow from experiences. I learned a lot from all my stops on the journey. Each stop was different-- Each University was different, and the support was not equal. It made me realize that the support you receive and the people you work for you make a difference in the job. Not the money.”
While pursuing a coaching and recruiting career at the USports level, he kept his hand in the pros, working those training camps for the Argos. That commitment paid off in 2010 when the Argos hired Ted as running backs coach. He was named director of Canadian scouting in 2011, and the Argos won the Grey Cup in 2012. He was rewarded by being named Argonaut director of player personnel in 2013.
At the time the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had been struggling for several years and knew they had to upgrade their talent, so they had to upgrade their talent evaluation. In December of 2013 Ted was hired by the Bombers as assistant general manager and director of player personnel. Ted helped turn the team around and by 2016 the Blue Bombers were 11-7, making the playoffs. They have been in the playoffs every year since, having been to the last five Grey Cup Games, winning two. Goveia was promoted to Sr. Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel following the 2019 Grey Cup victory.. He signed an extension after they won their 2nd consecutive Grey Cup in 2021. In his 10-year experience with the Bombers Goveia was heavily involved in all aspects of shaping the scouting department including both Canadian and US scouting efforts, free agency and contract negotiations. As he says, Work hard and the rewards will come.
That’s the journey. And now the Return. The hometown TiCats came calling. It’s a position, and a group of professionals that he is excited to join.
“ The Tiger-Cats have a long history in our community. I am familiar with many of the greats that I watched play growing up—so while every job that I have had mattered to me—this one certainly tops the list. The opportunity to be the GM of this team is a dream---I am excited to be working in this community once again. “
When Ted reflects on his decades-long journey he sees a lot of life lessons he shares with others.
“ When I started coaching, the only real career plan I had was to do a great job—no matter how small the job. I worked every football camp I could, I watched every coaching video and read every book to continue to learn about the game. I spent the off seasons trying to improve my knowledge and I was always looking for a way to improve. I am still wired like this today— life is about growth, and I embrace that daily. I just made up my mind at a young age that this is what I was going to do—I stayed the course regardless of setbacks. It worked out. I’ve enjoyed every stop in my journey and now here I am. Home.”
Goveia sees the challenge ahead as being of two connected parts. Build the football team and help grow the sport. He’s been hired to improve the football team, and he knows that the process will reap the rewards. As he points out, no one saw the growing pains in Winnipeg before the 5 Grey Cup appearances.
“Winning comes through scouting, managing the salary cap, hiring the right people, free agency ( starts Feb11) the draft, and trades. It’s an awesome and all-encompassing process.”
And building a winning team in Ted’s eyes will take care of the second part of the job.
" I believe in the community-building power of sport. I see football as a transformational sport, and I hope to use this platform to help grow the game in our communities. A healthy community requires participation and commitment to developing our young people—football is just one avenue to build connection.”
Connections to get jobs, connections to help and inspire young people, connections to build community. Ted Goveia’s journey has brought success to the teams he’s been involved with, but he also has inspired and motivated hundreds of players to work hard and achieve on the field and in life. All those highly sought-after recruits who ended up at his schools did so because they knew they would be working with a professional of the highest honour. Now he returns to lead the team that so many mothers and sons are cheering for together, like he and his mom a journey ago.
Hire the right people. Looks like the Hamilton Tiger Cats did just that.
A Hero’s Journey chronicles the people that make up the history of Olympia, but it does far more than that. It serves as an inspirational guidebook for readers to become the hero of their own path. In order to do this the book examines the history of the land on which the camp has been built, from its indigenous origins to the European settlement process of the 1800’s. and the use of the land by the Royal Norwegian Air Force during WWll. The book is built on a collection of stories related to mentorship, sports psychology, and community building. With this book author Chris Dooley honours the 50-year history of the camp while giving us all a window into seeing a deeper level of understanding of the world and our place in it.
Books Available at:
- Amazon and Indigo.ca
- Indigo, Burlington Brant Street location.
- The Different Drummer Book Store on Locust Street in Burlington\
- Cedar Canoe Books on Main St in Huntsville
- 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
Olympia is proud of Ted and the fact that one of his steps on the journey was at Olympia.
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