Up2Us Sports coaches are leaders in the field of sports-based youth development (SBYD), but they often don't receive the recognition they deserve. Coaches' Corner is our way to show our appreciation for our incredible coaches who make positive change in their communities every day!

This month, we spoke with Unique Jones, a coach at Youth Mentoring Partnership.

Coach Unique previously served as an Up2Us Sports coach from 2015-2016 at Beat the Streets Philadelphia. We profiled her during her first service term in January 2016, so you can learn more about Unique’s journey here.

Coach and mentor. Born-and-raised West Philadelphian. Mother. A Virgo who is full of life and energy. A self-professed anime fan. These are just a few of the words that can be used to describe Unique Jones, a 26-year-old Up2Us Sports coach who has been involved with our organization since 2015. 

But, as Unique herself admitted, she had never even expected to become a sports coach until just a few years ago. “I never thought about being a coach until I was asked to help coach girls interested in wrestling with [Beat the Streets, a youth wrestling organization],” Unique said. “I decided to assume that role because there aren’t a lot of female representatives in a male-dominated sport [like wrestling]. [F]ortunately, I was one of the lucky few to have [had] both a male and female coach. My goal was to give other female wrestlers the same opportunity I had with a male coach, who pushed you to reach your potential regardless of your gender, and [with] a female coach, who you can relate to and confide in.”

Unique’s service term with Beat the Streets laid the foundation for her career in coaching and youth development, eventually leading her to her current role as a Gritness Coach at Youth Mentoring Partnership (YMP), a youth development organization that connects youth from under-resourced communities with sports coaches/mentors.

As a Gritness Coach, Unique supports middle schoolers and high schoolers and their physical education class teachers by leading small group mentoring during class time. Consequently, as per the YMP website, “The improved student/teacher ratio allows for more individualized support for students.”

“We are with the students in P.E classes throughout [the] year, which allows you to form connections and positive relationships [with them],” Unique said. “I love that about work. I wanted to continue building relationships… [with] the youth we work with, and that was ultimately why I continued working with YMP.”

And building relationships has certainly been a key part of Unique’s coaching experience so far. In fact, over the years, Unique has found that some of the most rewarding moments of her coaching career haven’t been watching her students win games or develop new sports skills, but rather building relationships with them.

“I love building relationships and connections with the students I work with,” Unique said. “We use an online platform called Eduguide [at YMP], and this social emotional learning tool has helped keep us in communication with the students during our virtual year of schooling. [It has also] allowed us to learn more information [about them] that they probably wouldn’t tell us in-person. I found out a lot of the students have very similar interests — anime. One of the questions on Eduguide leaves the option for the students to tell us anything, and anime was a common response. I would always respond to this question to get to know [the students] better, to step into their world… Throughout the year and even over summer, students to this day walk up to me to discuss new TV shows they are watching and ask me to watch [them] so we can talk about it. I love that they want to talk about their interests with me and feel comfortable enough to let me into their safe haven.”

Being able to connect with youth in this way has helped Unique develop strong bonds with her students. But to Unique, there’s more to their relationship than just common interests — she also wants to be “a role model to the youth [she] work[s] with.” 

“I’ve learned [from coaching] that I have to lead by example, meaning the expectations I set for my team should apply to me as the coach too,” she said. “I can’t expect the team to eat healthy during the season if I am eating unhealthy… I can’t expect them to fully comprehend a drill just by giving verbal instructions; I… have to demonstrate what I want from them… I can’t expect the team to not use profanity if I do during practice.”

She added, “It’s funny, because one year at lacrosse practice, I cursed. [A]nd one of the girls said, ‘Why can you curse, but we have to do push ups whenever we do?’ [A]t that moment I thought, ‘Don’t question me,’ but I didn’t know what to say, because she was right. Since then, I try to live up to the same standard I set for them and be a positive role model, because I am trying to teach them lessons that they can take with them outside of sports.”

Serving as a coach, mentor, and role model at YMP certainly keeps Unique busy, but when she’s not at YMP, you can usually find her enjoying the company of friends and family. When asked how she spends her time outside of coaching, she replied, “One word… LOGAN. [T]his is my son. I try to plan fun weekends for us to enjoy. [But otherwise], I prefer to just relax and chill at home with friends and family whenever I don’t go anywhere. I love food, so that’s the way people typically get me out the house.”

So what’s next for Unique? After two years at YMP, she has said there will be “more to come!” Overall, though, she said, “I have a lot of things in mind that I’d like to accomplish, but I’ll name two: get my master’s degree (not sure in what yet), and become a certified personal trainer.”

Unique served her first year of service in 2015-2016 at Beat the Streets Philadelphia. Since August 2020, she has served at Youth Mentoring Partnership in Philadelphia. This month, Unique begins her fourth year of service thanks to AmeriCorps and PennSERVE.