Although only 27 years old, Miki Kawahara has a long history of both playing and coaching baseball.
The new technical director for Babe Ruth Calgary has been tasked to oversee the development of the league - the
first time it has hired a person specifically for this position.
And Kawahara brings a wealth of experience gained on the diamonds of Alberta, British Columbia and even
Australia to his new role.
“My role here is development,” said Kawahara, who grew up in Red Deer and played his minor baseball there.
“Obviously a really high focus on the development of our athletes but also the development of coaches, trying
to make sure that what our coaches do throughout the association is a bit more consistent. What our players
are learning from each coach is a bit consistent. And also just the development of programs. So taking our travel
team program, making some adjustments there, changing that, trying to develop it a little bit better.”
Kawahara graduated with his degree in Human Kinetics from the University of British Columbia. While in college
he was an academic All-Canadian playing for the Douglas College Royals and the UBC Thunderbirds as an outfielder.
After finishing his playing career, he remained in British Columbia until 2007. During that time he helped coach the
Coquitlam Red Legs to back-to-back regional championships in the B.C. Junior Premier Baseball League. He was
also a part of the coaching staff at West Coast Softball from 2002-2007. Over the past five years Kawahara has
coached at the 2007 B.C. Provincial Camp, 2008 and 2009 Alberta Spring Training, 2008 and 2009 Canada Cup
(Team Alberta, 17 and under), and the 2008 and 2009 Alberta Prospects (Head Coach).He’s also a certified strength
and conditioning coach as well as a sport conditioning specialist.
Lyle Tomie, president of Babe Ruth Calgary, said the organization put the word out across Canada that it was
looking to hire a technical director. It received about 20 serious applications.
“The main reason we wanted to hire a technical director was to make sure when people register for this league
they were getting bang for their buck. So they were going to get a consistent experience of practice and playing,”
said Tomie last weekend as players registered for this season.
“We recognize that a lot of our volunteers, our coaches, are dads, parents of players, so we wanted to make sure
those people as well have the opportunity to learn how to coach and the experience for the players is consistent.
That’s the main key. And that’s the main reason that we hired a technical director just to make sure that we’re
giving these kids good development and that we’re able to have a consistent approach throughout this league.”
Tomie said Kawahara fits the bill well.
“He has good experience working with youth, working with people. He was very much into strength and conditioning
and development of players. That's what we really wanted,'' said Tomie.
The league’s opening weekend is May 8 with the season concluding at the end of July. The league, with up to
150 players, has 10 teams with AAA and AA divisions. The AAA teams will play a 28-game schedule while the
AA division has a 24-game schedule. In August, there will be a wood bat league and fall programs are also slated
for the older players and travel team players.
Babe Ruth players are between the ages of 15 and 18 and the league is open to those born between Jan. 1, 1991
and April 30, 1995. Another registration opportunity is scheduled for today between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the
Optimist Arena meeting room, 5020 26th Ave. S.W.
In the past few years, opportunities for players have opened up with independent teams outside of Calgary with
no league affiliations.
Kawahara is hoping to keep Calgary kids playing in Calgary.
“Because they’re not in a league, they’re able to draw players from sort of anywhere,” he said. “So part of what
we’re doing through developing our players, acquiring coaches, we’re trying to recruit. Not necessarily recruiting
but we’re trying to take the players that fit well into our league and keep them in our league and provide them with
what they’re looking for.
“They’re looking for winter training. They’re looking for more games. They’re looking for high quality games and
part of my job in developing our association is to be able to provide them those things that they’re looking for.”
Many former Babe Ruth Calgary players have advanced to play for U.S. college teams and Chris Reitsma has
even played major league baseball.
''Going to back when I played in Red Deer in the late 90s, Babe Ruth has always put together really, really
strong teams and their travel teams used to be in a lot of the tournaments that we played,” said Kawahara.
“That’s my earliest experience with Babe Ruth over 10 years ago and their development and the number of
players that they’ve kept in their league has always been very, very good. It’s really a cornerstone baseball
program within Calgary.”
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