Nick Stratis started cross-country skiing for humble reasons.

"Like most parents, I started because my kids wanted to learn to ski, so I started doing biathlon with them, and once we went through a season or two, they could ski better than I could,” the 57 year old said.

Stratis moved with his wife Linda to Whitehorse from Terrace, B.C., 20 years ago.

Seventeen of those years Stratis devoted to the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club (WCCSC).

And for his work, the club gave Stratis a nod with the Father Mouchet Award for 2011 at the awards banquet for the Northwestel Yukon Loppet held at Mount McIntyre on Saturday.

"I was quite surprised, to be honest,” said Stratis, who was also assistent coached with Cross Country Yukon at two Canada Winter Games, most recently the 2011 Games in Halifax, N.S., in February. "I'm just a coach of a small group. But I have been doing this gig for close to 20 years now.”

The award is presented to WCCSC members who give exceptional service to the sport in Whitehorse over the years and who have demonstrated initiative, leadership and commitment.

Claude Chabot, executive director of the WCCSC, said Stratis won the award for his infectious enthusiasm.

"He likes coaching all ages, but he particularly likes dealing with the younger kids, the beginning skiers,” said Chabot, who received the award in 2007.

"He's got infinite patience, and he'll turn around a kid who probably hates to ski. By the time they spend a couple of hours with Nick, they love it. You can't do better than that for a sport. It doesn't matter if that kid turns into some hotshot racer eventually or not, he doesn't care and he shouldn't care. All he wants is people to enjoy skiing, and they do with him.”

The namesake of the award, Father Jean-Marie Mouchet of France, founded ski programs throughout the territory, including isolated areas like Old Crowe.

The award is engraved with important names in Whitehorse's ski scene.

Don Sumanik, who was instrumental in bringing the 1981 World Cup Ski Race to Whitehorse and is a member of Sport Yukon's Hall of Fame, won the first award in 1991.

Other names include Alain Masson, three-time Olympian and current Cross Country Yukon head coach, and Lucy Steel, who with five medals is the Yukon's most decorated athlete in Canada Games history.

"Father Mauchet has quite big footsteps to follow in, as we all know, so it's nice to be recognized as being that type of person,” Stratis said.

Over the past few years, Stratis has also started teaching coaching courses.

The lesson there is simple, he said.

"The big message we put out is that it's long term, so if they're starting out at seven years old they may be in their late 20s before they actually peak as an athlete. It's very long term, and not to give up or get frustrated.

"You're working with young children, and if you don't come to it being enthusiastic then you're just going to pass that on to them. I enjoy coming out; we play a lot of games and it's fun to get out of your adult world for a couple of hours a week.”

Chabot said the only problem with Stratis is that there isn't more of him.

"I wish we could clone him. He's just an awesome coach,” Chabot said. "He's a guy who, when you see him with adults or kids, inspires enthusiasm. I don't know what to say about him other than, ‘Jeez, I wish we had a couple more of him.'”