Broad Run girls’ basketball team rallies around Coach Derrick Jenkins after stroke

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/broad-run-girls-basketball-team-rallies-around-coach-derrick-jenkins-after-stroke/2016/02/29/462b6c8a-dec2-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.html

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Hours before a Jan. 21 game with rival Briar Woods, the Broad Run girls’ basketball team kicked a gym class off its court to hold a midday, players-only practice session. One day prior, the 14 team members learned that their coach, Derrick Jenkins, was in a coma.

The last time the Spartans saw their first-year head coach, he was leaving the bench during a Dec. 29 game. Jenkins suffered a stroke and was rushed to the hospital.

Together, the Spartans needed to decide if they could keep playing basketball.

“None of us could sleep the night after we found out how bad the situation was. We met at school and had until noon to decide if we needed to cancel the game that night. We went in the principal’s office to talk, but nobody could say anything without crying,” senior Sofia Ackerman said. “We wanted to get on the court to see how it felt, and playing together felt so good. We realized he would have wanted us to play basketball.”

When his team won by 26 that night, Jenkins was in the hospital recovering from surgery to drain blood that was putting pressure on his brain.

After more than a month of unresponsiveness and uncertainty, Jenkins finally opened his eyes in early February. A few days later, he blinked as he listened to a video message from his players.

“We wanted to make the video to tell him that we miss him and love him and that we’re playing hard for him,” senior Mariah Leonard said.

Leonard served as captain for Broad Run since her freshman season and Ackerman joined her in the role the past two seasons. As junior varsity coach Jaclyn Cumming took control of the varsity bench, the experienced duo’s complementary personalities helped Broad Run deal with the unexpected.

“I’m a loud person in general. On the bench and on the court I always yell to keep everyone positive,” Acerkman said. “Mariah is different, she’s always composed. She keeps everyone calm.”

“When this all happened our leadership role took on a whole new meaning,” Leonard said. “I’m not the most vocal person, but I had to step up and be a leader and show everyone how to keep honoring a coach Jenkins.”

In the past two weeks, Jenkins has started to clench hands and wiggle his feet, his significant other, Susan Brown said. His family is searching for a care facility so they can move him out of the hospital.

Last Thursday, Broad Run’s season ended with a loss to Potomac (Va.) in the quarterfinals of the Virginia 5A North region playoffs. As Jenkins continues his long recovery, his influence keeps impacting the people he always put first – his players.

“He was always smiling. You could tell that he loved what he did, and he told us all the time that we were his daughters,” said Leonard, who will play Division I college basketball at Drexel. “He has made such an impact on me as a basketball player and a person. When I’m down on myself, he’s still always there encouraging me to come back and fight stronger.”