By Aimee Brandon Posted June 4, 2015
The Coach of the Year this year is a Lowry graduate who has lived in Winnemucca most of her life. Her parents are City Fire Chief Alan Olsen and her mother, who may have been your math teacher at Winnemucca Junior High School, Georgette Olsen. She has been married to her husband, David Jenkins, for almost 12 years and has two bright, energetic children, Dempsey and Josie. Lowry’s coach of the year is Amy Jenkins.
Anyone who has ever been coached by Jenkins has something good to say. Kyllie Sappington was on Jenkin’s basketball team last year and contributed to the praise.
“She was a very good coach, she pushed us to do our best every single day and always believed in us,” said Sappington.
Jenkins has always had a knack for the game of basketball and has always enjoyed it.
“I have played sports my whole life. basketball, volleyball, and softball,” said Jenkins. “I remember going to basketball camps in the summers and just being in awe of all the high school girls and coaches who were there. It made me want to be one of them. I played basketball for the city leagues, junior high, and high school. I made the JV team my freshman year and varsity the next three years. I was coached by Tammy Pollock on the varsity team. She is probably the best coach I have ever been coached by.”
After graduating from high school in 1997, she went on to play basketball at the college level at the College of Eastern Utah.
After college, Jenkins had the desire to share what she had learned with others, so she began coaching in 2000 as the freshman girls coach. She coached for about four years but had to quit.
“Basketball is something that I love. It’s kind of something where you don’t feel complete if you don’t have it or are not a part of it,” said Jenkins.
When the opportunity to coach came again two years later, she had to take it. She became the freshman girls’ coach again. That season, the team finished 19-1. This year, she moved up to JV, and the team went undefeated 25-0 with most of the same girls from the previous year.
“I coach because I love basketball. I want to be a part of it in any way I can. I coach because I want to teach others,” said Jenkins.
