Basketball is a Game... a Tool for Growth

When writing A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp I was motivated to capture the 50 year history of the camp but more so I wanted to explore the life and teachings of Dave Grace and understand what it took for him to inspire so many, for so long.... I now find myself exploring the journey of other heroes. Some are written about in this blog, others come from further reading. 

 Let me introduce you to Mike Hickey. First a brief history of one the quality people I got to meet on my journey.

Mike hails from Hempstead, New Jersey and attended and played basketball at Sir George Williams University in Montreal in 1971-73. When Sir George Williams and Loyola College merged to form Concordia University in 1974, Mike became the head coach of the Stingers Men's basketball team at only 24 years of age. In 1975 he took over the Women's program and coached the team till 1985. He then moved to Toronto to take over the Ryerson ( now Toronto Metropolitan University) Rams in 1985. He then returned to Montreal as Head Coach of Concordia from 1991-95. This basketball lifer then was an assistant coach at Manitoba, Bishop's and Concordia  from 1995-2014. Mike was inducted into the Concordia Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Mike  flowed seamlessly from Men's to Women's teams over more than 5 decades, even at the Team Canada level. He spent two years with the Men's national team, where he connected with mentor and subject of his first book Dream Big Dreams. The Jack Donohue Story. He helped Canada finish sixth at the 1982 FIBA World Championships. He also spent 6 years with the Women's team program, including in Atlanta at the 1996 Olympics.

When Mike moved to Toronto he heard from Olympia veterans like Peter Campbell about this great camp in Huntsville where after-session coaches meetings were a lot of fun but also a great learning tool, where ideas flowed. That was a focus of Mike's Fast Break Basketball Camp that he ran with John Dore in Montreal. He remembers talking to Dave Grace about the philosophy of Olympia and how it meshed with his ideas on coaching and building people while building the game. They spoke of Mike coming to Olympia to work the camp but he always felt that as owner of his own camp that may be a conflict of interest, so Mike never made it to Interlaken. What a loss for Olympia.

All Mike did was live the ideals... More on those values later... 

The funny thing is that this blog is not about Mike Hickey. It's about the values that coaching can provide others and true legacy is shown in the lives of others. It's about the values that heroes like Mike HIckey and Dave Grace espouse to all those people lucky enough to have met, worked with, or especially coached by them.

This blog is about Don Ryan... who?.... read on

Mike's second book is entitled When Basketball was a Game. It chronicles the incredible 60 year career of Don Ryan coaching the Hempstead Salvation Army Biddy basketball teams. Biddy teams are elementary aged athletes. A book about an elementary basketball players? That is like saying Olympia is known for its Tuck Shop. There is just so much more. Ryan's program was known for many things; no child ever had to play a cent to play, they won seemingly 90% of their games, but while coach Ryan was teaching basketball skills, he was also shaping community and business leaders, role models and in some cases professional athletes. One of his proteges and writer of the book's foreword is Julius Erving. By the way Dr. J. asked if he could write it.

His Hempstead Salvation Army teams won 3 National Championships and more than 3,000 games but worth far more to Coach Ryan were the lessons in sportsmanship. discipline, perseverance and hope that forever changed the course of countless lives. While the striving for success is important, its these values that is the true legacy of a coach who puts character and education ahead of wins and trophies. 

When Basketball Was a Game also explores the personal journeys of the young athletes who passed through the program, many of whom used basketball as a pathway out of poverty and difficult childhood circumstances. For these players, the gym was more than a court; it was a refuge. 

This book, and the parallel I see to the teachings of Dave Grace, is a book about the human condition, not just basketball. We live in a world that is dominated by the bottom line. The deluge of more games then practices, and 12 month commitment to a sport at an early age is opposite of what Don Ryan did for so long. His only goal was to make basketball fun.

My favourite aspect of this book has actually become part of the legacy of its writing. Coach Ryan always believed that players had to take care of their studies too, and a program called the Don Ryan Carry the Book initiative comes from the words of a fellow Hempstead High School English teacher who said " Carry the books as well as the Ball, emphasizing the need for young athletes to read and do well in their academic pursuits. The initiative's goal is to encourage reading among elementary and high school students through copies of the book being donated to school's in Montreal as well as schools on Long Island.

Reading Mike's book made me feel good about so much in the coaching world I was involved in for so long, yet wary of the direction we need to stop the sporting world from heading. Too many games, too much focus on winning, parents living through the lives of their kids, transfer programs if you don't  like a lack of playing time are all examples of a selfish outlook that does no one any good. And now the evils of gambling join the fray.

I congratulate and thank Mike Hickey for sharing the life journey of one man so we all can learn and explore what we are doing in out own lives.  

Same words could be said for one Dave Grace. The bottom line is that the world needs a lot more leaders like Coach Grace and Coach Hickey, and of course a lot more like Coach Don Ryan.

Have an idea or direction for a blog entry? Email me at coachdools71@gmail.com and lets talk possibilities. 

A Hero’s Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp 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. This book 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: 

-  Tuck and Pro at Olympia ( ask about the coach's deal)

 - 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 

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.