If the greatness of a community is best measured by the selflessness of its members, then the town of St. Adolphe is in good shape. And it’s true, at least if resident Michael Oman has anything to do with it.

For the past 15 years, Oman has been pouring his heart, and virtually every minute of his spare time, into volunteering towards community sporting initiatives. And if the sports opportunities don’t exist in St. Adolphe, he’s not afraid to create them.

Oman has been the face of the St. Adolphe badminton club for years. What started as a few adults playing badminton on occasion is now a highly active club with anywhere between 90 to 110 participants in either the winter or summer programs.

According to Danielle Peters, the RM’s recreation director, Oman’s program is both inclusive and multigenerational.

“It fosters a safe and welcoming environment for everybody,” says Peters. “We help with the registration and that kind of stuff, but it’s all him really.”

Oman collects a nominal membership fee from attendees, taking nothing for himself. The fee covers the cost of liability insurance and new equipment.

Twice every week, he’s there to set up and take down the nets as well as instruct and coach the many schoolkids who attend.

So valued are volunteers like Oman to the community that Ritchot Recreation nominated him for the Recreation Manitoba awards.

“Mike is a good friend of Ritchot Recreation,” Peters says. “He’s a dedicated St. Adolphe resident and is very active in the community. He’s a community leader who consistently demonstrates his passion for recreation and community development. We love working with him and seeing the work that he does.”

According to Peters, if something in the way of recreation needs improvement in the community, Oman is pretty quick to point it out and share ideas on how it could be done better.

For Oman, being a community member means making a tangible investment in it. It’s an ethic his father demonstrated in real time when Oman was a child growing up in Pine Falls.

“He was involved in everything,” Oman says, “whether it was the volunteer fire department, town council, the snowmobile club, or the arena and managing the hockey teams. And he didn’t even play sports.”

By the time Oman was a teenager, he too was volunteering as a coach for kids sports and refereeing at the local arena.

When Oman moved to St. Adolphe with his wife and three sons, his life revolved around sports again, coaching as many as three hockey teams at a time as well as little league baseball in the summer.

When his son’s interests turned to badminton, Oman set to work developing a competitive and skill-building club in town, open to all skill levels. The sport took off in such a big way that both the winter and summer clubs now fill up in a hurry.

Indeed, Oman says he gets only a one-month break from it every year. That’s in September.

With this level of dedication to volunteerism, it’s hard to imagine that any significant compensation comes from it. But Oman says his reward is watching students in his program turn their skill levels around.

“A lot of the kids aren’t jocks,” he says. “They come and realize, ‘Hey, this is fun.’ But confidence-wise, they don’t really have it yet. Then they improve and they end up in gym class and their game is on. We’ve had a provincial champ or two every year from this community.”

It’s also thanks to Oman that athletes from around the province are discovering St. Adolphe, in large part due to the 18-hole disc golf course. It was a sport Oman and his wife discovered during the pandemic years.

“The great part about this game, compared to regular golf, is it’s free to play. You don’t have to book a tee time. You don’t have to rent a cart or pay green fees. You just show up and play.”

Oman found just the right acreage along the riverside in the St. Adolphe Park. The problem was that the park had become badly overgrown and neglected. Nothing existed here except a poorly utilized walking trail.

When he proposed the project to Ritchot Rec, they fully got behind the idea.

“I took all the posts off my kids’ trampoline, pounded them into the ground, and put flags on them,” he says. “My mom makes all my flags for me. I used my dad’s riding mower and cut trails through the long grass and weed-whacked to make greens and tee pads.”

Eventually, official tee baskets arrived thanks to the RM’s efforts. Between Oman and the public works department, the course is now one of the most fun and challenging ones around, used by individuals and leagues from all over.

Oman says it’s easy to see where improvements could be made to give the St. Adolphe course an edge. He’s played the course himself at least 200 times in the last ten months.