Westpark Royals' Head Coach Brian Brewer was recently named the Manitoba High School Athletic Association's Payworks Coach of the Month for March.

Brewer's coached the Royals' Junior Varsity girls basketball team for the past 2 years, and has won back-to-back Zone 4 Championships as a result. This year, they also won their way to the A/AA provincials -- where they captured second place -- and brought home the school's first provincial banner. Brewer says it's pretty special to win the award.

"To win something like this is pretty awesome. There's a lot of good coaches out there, and to be recognized, it feels pretty good. I'm a little humbled, I'm sure there's a lot of other good coaches out there too, but I mean I had a great team and they make me look good."

Brian says coaching can be really easy when you have a gifted team.

"You have a team that buys in to what you're trying to teach them, and just gives it everything they have. This team I coached this year was one of the best teams I've ever been associated with. All in all it's just been an awesome year."

He adds a coach can have a big impact on kids, like they did on him.

"I love the game of basketball. It's been great to me, and I had a lot of coaches that invested a lot of time in me. I coach to make a difference and to give back to the community. (Coaching) been a big part of my life, as basketball has, and I want to keep doing it because I really like working with kids."

Also winning the award was Sturgeon Heights Huskies' Head Coach Evan Cox, who coached their Junior Varsity basketball team to the Provincial AAAA Championship.