ST. PAUL – Ty Lafrance of St. Paul, and the Bulldogs Baseball Academy in Lloydminster, has committed to play for the Edmonton Collegiate Hawks' junior varsity team. In the fall, he will be pursuing his electrician apprenticeship at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, while also playing ball.
Lafrance has played many sports, including hockey with St. Paul Minor Hockey, along with several school sports. But as a baseball athlete, Lafrance played the sport since he was eight years old, beginning with St. Paul Minor Ball in 2014.
Over the last 10 years, Lafrance has played for different teams including the Bonnyville Braves in 2017 and the Lloydminster Prairie Pirates from 2021 to 2023.
Ty, currently a Grade 12 student at St. Paul Regional High School, says it can be challenging to be an athlete, especially when he moved up to the AAA-level with the Pirates.
It was hard work.
“The coaches were hard,” he said. But, this proved to help him in the long run.
On a technical level, Lafrance now hopes to improve his pitching.
Rhonda Lafrance, Ty’s mother, agrees. “He can’t just throw a fastball all the time,” or the batters will see through it and easily adapt.
Ty admits he is nervous to see what college pitching will look like. “It’s going to be a big jump,” he says.
But with his prior experiences, he remains confident, looking at how he was able to adapt and get used to the routine at the AAA level.
“It definitely made me way more competitive in just everything.”
He admits he was more scared of figuring out what he wanted to do after he graduates from high school.
Rhonda says her son was even going to give up on baseball. “He said, ‘I’m just going to go to work’.” So, Rhonda asked her son, “What made you change your mind?”
Ty says he simply wanted to keep playing the sport he loves, so when the opportunity arose to do so, and he was invited to play for the Hawks – he took it.
He says his parents are always his biggest inspirations. Seeing them work hard for his sake, “Inspires me to keep on going,” says Ty. He also enjoys seeing the fruits of his labour, making progress, and getting better in anything that he does - including sports.
“That’s just awesome to see.”
Working hard is also a concept Ty attempts to instill as a young coach, since he has also helped coach some teams, which is something that makes his mother proud.
Rhonda says her son, as a coach, can be tough on the kids. But it has earned Ty a lot of respect from the players.
Ty is looking forward to playing for the Hawks, with hopes that he could also move from playing with the team’s junior varsity to its varsity roster. To do that, he must work even harder.
“Not too much partying,” quipped Rhonda, with a smile.
Ultimately, for Ty, "There’s no better feeling than hitting a baseball.”
Nolan Dechaine
Another baseball athlete from the St. Paul region has also been playing for the Hawks since the Fall of 2023. Nolan Dechaine, who comes from St. Lina, congratulated Ty for his commitment to the team.
Dechaine says that while baseball is huge in the Lakeland, having people from the region playing at a high level is a big booster for youth to see. It acts as a form of motivation, showing them that anything is possible, if they work hard, says Dechaine.
Many kids, no matter what sport they may pursue, may feel like it is not possible for them to compete at a higher level. But Dechaine encourages young athletes to take the chance.
“If you don’t take the chance... you’re never going to know what could have been, right?”
There may come a time when they are discouraged, even by their peers, with words or statements, telling them it is “silly or dumb” to pursue something out of the norm. “But if you truly believe in your heart that you can do something, go and do it,” says Dechaine.
Dechaine moved away from the area when he was 15, heading to Consort to play at the Neutral Hills Academy. He also played college baseball at the University of Lethbridge, before joining the Hawks in 2023.
At the end of the day, Dechaine stresses the importance of having fun no matter what someone decides to pursue.
“If you can’t go to the field, or go to the gym, and enjoy what you’re doing, then it can be really hard to stay motivated and want to play for a period of time,” he says.
He admits having lost motivation in the past and felt as if his passion became more like a job, but he regained his love for the sport and is having fun with it again.
Currently, Dechaine is taking business management at MacEwan University. Just like Ty, he also hopes to move up and play with the Hawk’s varsity roster in the future.