Coach Darcy Warawa
Darcy Warawa grew up playing the majority of his minor baseball in Innisfail and Red Deer at the AA & AAA levels. He also played for Team Alberta competing in the Canada Cup and Western Canada Summer Games in 1995. Darcy then played 4 years at the U.S. collegiate level as an outfielder and pitcher at Central College in Kansas and Northwest Missouri State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Management.
Along with coaching at the competitive level (AA & AAA) of various age groups in Central Alberta communities over the past 20+ years, he has coached at the Team Alberta, Canadian Jr. National Team and international levels.
In 2001 and 2002 Darcy was selected by Baseball Alberta as the Head Coach of the Team Alberta Bantam Female team for the Western Canadian Baseball Championships. He was also selected in 2002 by the Alberta Amateur Baseball Council (AABC) to be the Head Coach of a Central Alberta Midget All-star team that played against a Japanese Midget All-star team travelling through Alberta.
From 2002 to 2009 Darcy was involved as a coach on an annual basis with numerous AABC Team Alberta programs including: the Canada Cup Tournament, Spring Training, Winter Development Camps, Provincial Scouting, Prospects Series, Talent Identification Tryouts and the Canada Summer Games.
In 2005 he was fortunate to coach internationally in Imola, Italy, coaching both a semi-pro team (Serie A2) and a junior team as well as being named as an Assistant Coach to an All-star team that played against the Cuban National team that was travelling through Europe in preparation for the first ever World Baseball Classic.
Upon returning to Canada in late 2005, he became involved again with the AABC and their various provincial level programs. In 2007 he was selected as an Assistant Coach for the Mizuno Jr. Elite Camp that involved coaching the top 50 fifteen year olds from across Canada at the Rogers Centre in Toronto with coaching staff from Baseball Canada and the Toronto Blue Jays. Along with being an Assistant Coach at the Canada Cup Tournament in 2004, 2007 and 2008, he was selected as an Assistant Coach for the 2009 Canada Summer Games team which made the first ever gold medal game appearance for Alberta.
In 2011 he was selected as a Guest Coach with the Canadian Jr. National team’s Spring Training program. The team travelled to Florida to play against a variety of Major League Baseball team’s extended spring training rosters over a 10 day period.
Darcy continued to provide individual instruction and play the game from 2011 to 2015, but took a brief break from coaching to focus on raising his two young sons with his wife. In 2016 he and his family moved to Lacombe where he became involved with the Lacombe Minor Baseball Association (LMBA) as the Director of the Rookie (9U) division. He developed the 9U program (format, rules, modifications, etc.) that has been utilized by the LMBA the past 7 seasons and was adopted by Baseball Alberta as of the 2020 season as the recommended program for 9U.
From 2016 – 2019 Darcy coached in the 9U and 11U AA divisions and also held various positions within the LMBA including Division Director, Coach and Player Development Director, Vice President and President, helping to grow the association to its highest registration numbers at that time.
With the LMBA not offering baseball in 2020 due to Covid and no 13U AA in 2021 an opportunity was created in Stettler for his oldest son and 2022 saw his youngest son return to the game in Lacombe. Over the 3 year period from 2021 to 2023 he was the Head Coach of 3 Provincial championship teams (13U and 15U AA Tier 1, 13U AA Tier 4), an Assistant Coach on another 13U AA Tier 4 Provincial championship team and the Head Coach of the 2023 Alberta Summer Games – Zone 4 team. Darcy was the recipient of the 2021 Baseball Canada Grassroots Coach of the Year Award handed out by Baseball Alberta.
Along with being NCCP Level 3 certified in baseball, Darcy also has entry level coaching certification in lacrosse, soccer, basketball and hockey as his sons have taken him down various athletic paths over the past 9 years.
He takes pride in not only providing technical instruction to further developed each player’s ability but also utilizes each coaching opportunity to build a relationship with players and instill life skills that will benefit them throughout life, beyond their athletic careers.