MESA, AZ — “Backfill Brody, backfill Brody, you guys gotta attack, you guys gotta attack.”
Inside the Farnsworth YMCA gymnasium Friday, Coach Jon-Paul “JP” Jaramillo is putting his players to work, pushing the youngsters to anticipate hustle and work as a team.
“I’m really just giving back man, I’m helping build better humans, build better members of our society,” said Coach JP.
For the past five years, JP has juggled work, a growing family, and his love of coaching youth basketball at the East Valley YMCA.
“I truly believe it’s my purpose and when you know your purpose, you know why you’re on this earth, at that point, it’s just time management,” said Coach JP.
Somehow, he finds time to coach three different teams. Even his players find themselves amazed.
“For me, I don’t have rides most of the time to my games and he always helps me get my rides to the game, he’s hard working, and he’s dedicated [to] what he does,” said 14-year-old Jaeden Jenkins.
His impact beyond the X’s and O’s is now being recognized. Coach JP recently was named the Suns JR NBA coach of the year for the state of Arizona. He was chosen out of more than 80 other nominees by representatives of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury. The win now puts him up against 28 others across the U.S. for the national title.
“Obviously he’s a coach, he wants to make them better basketball players and he does a really good job of that, but he cares about the kids, he doesn’t just look to coach the best players out there. He likes to coach those kids that are struggling and help bring them up,” said Greg Bouslog with the Ross Farnsworth YMCA.
Whether helping pay for club dues or a patented pep talk, Coach JP continues to make a difference. He takes pride in seeing the boys under his watch turn into young men and helping them put their best qualities forward both on and off the court.
“A lot of these kids I’ve had since they were eight years old, and now many of them just turned 14 and 15, I got them when they could barely dribble a basketball and now, they’re running a two-three zone, a full court press, it’s amazing to see,” said Coach JP.