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New girls basketball head coach Taylor Christensen has been around basketball from the time she was born, and at the young age of four she already knew it would play a role in her life.
“I am the youngest of four so my parents would coach my older siblings in junior jazz and stuff,” Christensen said. “So I would would always be at their games and practices, just trying to be like the older kids.”
This exposure to the sport through her parents and older siblings set her up for success and brought joy to her throughout her childhood.
As she grew older she developed more skills and started to recognize her abilities.
“In middle school, maybe even in sixth grade or seventh grade, I knew I was pretty good,” Christensen said. “People would notice me when when I was playing, and then my seventh or eighth grade year my AU coach contacted me and told me I was good and wanted me on his team. I started for him and got a lot of recognition from colleges and got my first scholarship when I was a freshman to UVU.”
Along with UVU, five other colleges offered her full ride scholarships, with other schools still considering.
Taylor’s high school basketball career was record-breaking. She stood out from the rest of the girls as a lead scorer and a star player. During the final year of her high school career she was scoring an average of 19.09 points per game, a very impressive on the high school level.
One of the biggest challenges she has faced in her life was making the shift from high school basketball to college basketball.
“Right after high school I go and think I’m great,” Christensen said. “I go from being the leading scorer all state player at North Sanpete High School and I get into this huge pool where everyone is the same. Everyone is awesome and everyone is good at what they do, so I think it took me a minute to adjust. It was hard to go from the greatest to just the same as everyone else.”
Being willing to make adjustments and having a good work ethic made Taylor stand out while playing on on a college level. This desire to get better was shown through her play time on the court. Her junior and senior year she averaged nearly 6 rebounds and 14 points per game.
“Taylor is a very hardworking, competitive player. As a teammate she is passionate, she cares deeply about her teammates and for her team to be successful,” UVU coach Caitlyn Sears said. “She enjoys having a good time with her teammates laughing and joking around.”
Her competitive nature often stands out when you look at her, but she is also a fun loving person. On and off court Taylor could be seen celebrating and making memories with her teammates.
While being a part of the team she developed friendships with the coaches, who not only taught her how to be a better basketball player, but also taught her life lessons.
Along with being passionate and hardworking, Taylor is also loyal. This is one reason why she has made her way back to NS. As head coach of the girl’s basketball team she is already making progress.
“We have seen huge improvements over just a few weeks,” Christensen said. “Girls have gone from not being able to even shoot a layup and making a layup, to now they can dribble into a layup and make a right handed and a left handed layup.”
Community members and staff also think that she will make a difference this season.
“Definitely, I think she already has [made a difference],” said coach and teacher Landon Bailey. “There are a lot of girls who have came out to play and she obviously has a lot of experience with four years at a college level, which is very impressive, and I think she’ll definitely have a huge impact. It also helps that she coaches volleyball so that way she gets a lot of girls as well to get some of the volleyball players to also play basketball which is a big deal.”
Christensen is already making a difference for students at NS. Through coaching and student teaching she influences students lives which is one reason she wants to become a teacher.
“I have always wanted to be a part of a school, and I just want to be involved in shaping kids,” Christensen said.
This is also why Christensen chose the subject that she did.
“I chose health because it just deals with life, so I just wanted to help kids manage the things that come up in their life,” Christensen said. “Because all these things that we talk about in health drugs, sex, self esteem issues, confidence issues, social media is all going to come up at some point in your lives so I think being able to teach you and be able to help is just a big part of why I chose this.”
