WARSAW – Blessed.

Thankful.

Fortunate.

Warsaw football coach Phil Jensen used each of the above words time and time again to describe how he feels.

Jensen, the fiery, passionate and tough leader of the Tiger program,  continues to make strides in his recovery from a serious accident six months ago. Jensen suffered serious injuries, including nine broken ribs, seven fractures in his veterbrae and three brain bleeds, when he fell from a ladder at his home back on Dec. 5.

“I’m doing okay,” said Jensen simply in an interview Wednesday after he supervised a summer weight lifting session by team members at WCHS. “I’m truly blessed and lucky. For whatever reason, God was not done with me yet and that’s why I’m still here.”

Jensen, who has coached at WCHS for a total of 16 years in two different tenures, spent 11 days in the ICU unit at a hospital in Fort Wayne. He surprised everyone by coming home on Dec. 18 and then returning to school in his role as an attendance coordinator late in the winter.

“I’ve just had tremendous support from everyone, starting with all the prayers from the time I was involved in the accident,” explained Jensen. “My family (wife Debbie and children Samantha and Michael) have been great. They’ve been through a lot.

“Troy (WCHS principal Troy Akers) and all of the people at the school have been tremendous. I’ve also gotten tremendous support from the community. I’m so incredibly thankful for my family, this school and this community. This has been very humbling in a lot of ways.”

Jensen says that even though some six plus months have passed since he was injured that there is still some uncertainty and questions about how the injuries that he suffered with affect him in the future.

“The doctors told me that it would be a year or more before we knew what the new normal would be,” noted Jensen. “So it’s still going to be a while before I know what exactly that means.”

Jensen has also had great support from the coaching fraternity and his own staff, including the likes of the outstanding duo of defensive coordinator Kris Hueber and offensive coordinator Matt Thacker.

Jensen, who graduated from Penn High School in 1983 before going on to play at Butler University, plans to be on the sideline ready to go when the Tigers open the season at Columbia City on Aug. 19. The Warsaw roster includes a senior class that is very near and dear to the heart of their coach, including his son and quarterback Michael.

“I want to coach these kids and I’m going to make sure that I am healthy enough to do that,” Jensen emphasized. “This senior class are like sons to me. The four years that I was out of coaching here I spent coaching these kids in Little League and Pee Wee football and Upward Basketball.

“The thing is that this is not about me. It’s about these kids and their goals for this upcoming season. We’re guaranteed to have at least 10 games, hopefully more, and we want to make the most of it.”

Jensen, who is 121-87 overall in 20 seasons including his 92-75 mark at WCHS, is looking forward to this weekend. He was scheduled to take a large group of players to DePauw University today to participate in a three-day team camp.

“This will be a challenge for me and I can’t wait for it,” concluded Jensen.