Chino Valley coach and registered nurse outlines goals for youth basketball

Jody Denik, a 2001 graduate of Chino Valley High School, introduced herself in the meeting transcript as the Chino Valley girls' head basketball coach and a registered nurse, and used her remarks to outline her experience and goals for local youth athletics.

"I'm Jody Denik," she said, noting "I currently am the Chino Valley Girls head basketball coach" and "I am a registered nurse. I have been for the last 20 years this month." Denik told listeners she initially pursued emergency medicine, completed an internship, and spent time at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix before returning home to Chino Valley.

Denik said she worked "in the emergency room for 14 years here" and that she is "currently working as an occupational health nurse for Ruger Firearms." She described more than a decade of coaching youth sports in the area — "for the last 10 or 11 years" — including five years with AYSO soccer, and said she has volunteered to teach fundamentals and teamwork even in sports she did not play.

On coaching goals, Denik said she wants her athletes to develop beyond sports: "As a coach here at Chino Valley High School, I am looking for my athletes to grow as humans, not just athletes." She emphasized dedication and character, urging players to value hard work and to learn "how to win the right way and lose the right way," and argued that learning to manage attitudes and tempers in sports prepares young people for setbacks later in life.

Denik closed by calling for community support: encouraging cheering, sideline help and other forms of involvement that she said would help "build what we currently have into a much bigger and better robust set of programs." She did not announce a formal motion, specific funding request or vote during her remarks.