While he'd sooner avoid the spotlight, a local coach was honoured by Sports Manitoba for growing the sport of basketball in Winkler.

"I don't really care about the winning or losing, my goal is always that by the end of the season we're a team," Mark Hamm says after being nominated for the Peter Dick Award at the Coaching Manitoba Impact Awards earlier this month.

Local resident Anna Matuszewski explains she nominated Hamm after watching him coach her daughters through minor and JV high school basketball.

"The amount of time he puts in is admirable," she says.

And while some coaches may direct their attention to a few key players, "he's focused on developing the entire team and keeping everyone involved and invested. You see that how he coaches and how he doles out playing time," she says. "As a parent you see that and it's worth noting."

Hamm has run a local skills camp for grades 3-8 and helped organize the Winkler Minor Basketball program for many years. After putting so much energy into students before they reach high school he says it was a no-brainer when asked to coach JV girls basketball at Garden Valley Collegiate. "Six years later, here we are," he says.

In the end, he explains his work is about uniting players into one cohesive team. With three different feeder schools coming together at GVC, Hamm says he looks for opportunities for team bonding. "You find different ways to put aside differences so that on the court they're united."

Inspired by his own childhood coaches, one he calls his "second dad", Hamm says his work is more gratifying when seeing students growing and giving back to the community off the court.

"Seeing my ex-players giving back in different ways... it's what community is all about."