Third-year Bisons centre Cameron O'Hara is equipped with many of the tools necessary to be a leader on the basketball court, such as a selfless attitude and mental toughness.

The 6'7" athlete developed the former while attending St. Paul's High School as a two-sport star on school's historically strong football and basketball teams.

"St. Paul's is definitely where I got a lot of my leadership qualities," the former Cru captain says.

"That's probably the biggest thing. They taught me how to be a leader even if you're not scoring 40 points like [fifth-year Bisons point guard] Rashawn [Browne] did last weekend. The St. Paul's motto is men for others, so it's doing the little things that aren't necessarily appreciated."

On the court, O'Hara averaged more than ten points and ten rebounds per game for the Crusaders. Interestingly though, it's a mistake he made in the 2015 provincial championship as a grade 11 that he pointed out as a defining 'big picture' moment in his athletic journey.  

St. Paul's was up by one with 6.2 seconds left to play against Oak Park when O'Hara intentionally fouled Raiders star Will Kohler. For a split second he lost track of the score in the game and thought that his team was down by one and not ahead. Kohler ended up hitting one of two free throws, sending the contest to overtime, which Oak Park eventually won 68-67.

"There was a lot of support from the school and from my teammates," O'Hara noted.

"Although they were probably pretty mad at me, they offered a lot of support which made me realize that there is more to sports than winning and losing. I just worked on being smarter and tried to carry that on to my next season. It's definitely something that has stuck with me. I can say I bounced back from it, but it's always in the back of my mind. It's helping me make decisions to this day."

O'Hara once again dealt with adversity in his redshirt season with the U of M in 2016-17. He came into camp at 265 pounds and felt the effects cardio-wise.

"My first year was definitely a big shock, being a lot heavier than I should've been for practicing, which is also probably one of the reasons why I ended up redshirting. That was difficult just keeping up to the pace of the game. I think I finished last or near last for every drill and any sort of conditioning.

It was really difficult, because it kind of gets at you mentally when you're finishing last. It's not a good feeling. No one likes being last, and it helped me develop a work ethic to go workout."

O'Hara pushed himself in the gym and has tipped the scales at a much more manageable 235 pounds each of the last two seasons. He's played in all 40 regular season games for Manitoba during that span of time, starting 30 as a key cog in the team's defensive game plan while also increasing his rebound total every year.

"Definitely a big part of the weight loss was practicing every day. With St. Paul's I'd go from football to basketball, and obviously there's a lot more movement in basketball. Even during my years at St. Paul's, I'd always be heavier in the summer and then as the fall and winter came I'd end up losing some weight and then putting it back on again for football.

A huge part of that weight loss was just not having the football to carry over, but then also just working on my diet. I saw [dietician] Janelle [Vincent] this past year for a diet plan, just to make sure I get even lower."

A soft-spoken individual off the court, O'Hara turns things up on a notch on it. His communication skills are a key element of his game; however, the humble big man was quick to credit many of the alum from Manitoba's 2016-17 roster for the help in that department.

The Herd advanced to nationals for the first time in three decades that year, with athletes such as AJ Basi, Keith Omoerah, Justus Alleyn, Ilarion Bonhomme II and Jonathan Alexander all going pro once their Bisons careers had wrapped up.

"I'm very vocal, which is something that [Manitoba head coach] Kirby [Schepp] has said before," mentioned O'Hara.

"I think that is a benefit defensively, which is probably one of our greater aspects as a team, especially this year. That was developed through just having Keith on my ass every day. Or AJ yelling at me for not calling a screen. Especially with that team my first year and seeing so many guys go pro, they just helped massively."

O'Hara has continued his progression in 2019-20, starting both games during Manitoba's season-opening sweep of the UBCO Heat. The Herd's defensive capabilities were on full display once again, as they held their opponent to less than 70 points in both games.

There's no doubt that O'Hara will continue to play a key role for a Manitoba, both vocally and with his strong inside presence.

"Cam is just a tremendous leader," Schepp added.

"He certainly has some of the best natural leadership abilities that I've seen in all my years here."