March 28, 2024

More than just a new coach

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This archived article was written by: Kayla Newman

At the end of last school year and a rough season, the womens volleyball team found themselves without a coach just a couple weeks before summer vacation.
After the long couple months of the team being without a coach, Danielle Jensen was named Utah State University Eastern’s head volleyball coach.
Jensen was born and raised in Price, Utah, always carrying with her the love and drive for athletics. She participated on the volleyball, basketball and track at Carbon High School.
At Carbon, she played alongside Chelsey Warburton and Morgan Warburton Nelson, coaches of USU Eastern’s womens basketball team. It was there that she met her husband, Calvin. Together, they have four children ranging from 1 to 10 years old.
Jensen brings years of coaching experience to the Eagles. Previously coaching at Canyon View and CHS, she has the knowledge to take her coaching to the collegiate level. While Jensen admits that she was nervous to be coaching at such a high level, she hardly shows it.
After one day of practice, she expressed in a video interview how pleasantly surprised she was at the talent of the girls and how nice it was to have a team that already knows what they’re doing.
Jensen flawlessly transitioned into her role as a head college coach and the team is responding incredulously.
When not running around coaching her volleyball players, she’s running around parenting her four children. Above everything else, she is a mom and puts her children first. When she took this coaching job, she didn’t realize how much she would miss her children.
Jensen is sacrificing hours a day and entire weekends away from her family to be with her team and bring them to success. While it’s hard, Jensen says she now appreciates the time she does have with her children more and makes the most of the time they do get to spend together when she’s not coaching.
Jensen’s motherly instincts and compassionate nature shines through in her coaching and is admired by her team.
“It’s like she’s my mom away from home, she cares so much about us already and I’m so thankful to have a coach like that,” said captain Mateah Tuckett.
A refreshing coaching style is one of the many things Jensen brings to USUE. Before every game, after she goes over defense, the line up and some key coaching points, she finishes her speech with “… and most importantly, have fun.”
She trusts that her team can perform well, without being too harsh with them. The girls have responded phenomenally to this coaching style and they’re happy to have a coach that is so trusting.
Middle blocker, Jessica Snarr said, “Coach Jensen is so experienced, which adds to the trust that we have with her. And her fun, uplifting attitude makes us all want to perform well to make her proud!”
Jensen has proved that she cares much for the women’s volleyball team and will puts her heart and soul into making this a successful season. She is more than just a coach, she is someone who cares about her team and wants to see them succeed on and off the court.