Darek has helped numerous paddlers reach their personal goals. Following are a few highlights:
| Coached Peter Petrovics to a first place finish in the Junior Men's 1000 meter K1 at the US Canoe/Kayak National Championships. Peter has also been named to the US Junior National Team and will compete at the Moscow Trials in Russia in September. |  |
| Wrote the training program for Nicos Afedulidis who, at age 42 and with a history of injuries, competed in the 2008 high knee canoe Olympic qualifiers in Marathon, Greece. Darek tailored Nicos' workouts to include more speed work and Nicos credits the program with helping him get faster and stay injury free this season. |  |
| Lead the Washington Canoe Club to its second place finish in team senior, intermediate and masters points at the 2008 US Canoe/Kayak Sprint National Championships. |  |