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MELODY GILLINGER

Melody Gillinger is the latest addition to our team. She and her family recently settled in Huntington Beach after travelling the world for 22 years as a military spouse. Wasting no time, she applied to become the next women's tennis coach at Saddleback College and was selected as the Head Coach in July of 2021.
As the new coach she quickly re-built a proud program that had fallen upon hard times and more than tripled the number of players and led the team to a third-place finish in the region and fielding singles and doubles teams that finished in the top 16 in the state. In addition to being the Bobcats' head coach she also is the head coach for the Edison High School freshman and sophomore girls' and boys' team. In her two years, Edison's girls have won their division twice and even went undefeated in 2021. Melody's recent success is a continuation of a tennis career that dates back to the 1990s when she was a 4-year letterman on the Millville High School team and a scholarship tennis player at Rutgers/Rowan University.
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Melody has been a private tennis instructor since 1996. She was a teaching pro at the Cleveland One Center from 1997-98. From 1999-2002 she was both the assistant tennis professional at the Hale Koa Resort (Waikiki, Hawaii) and the Director of Tennis for the Bondallion Tennis Academy at Hickam Air Force Base. From 2004-06 Melody was the Crew Chief for HI training line coaches and chair umpires for the United States Tennis Association and was the Head Coach at St. Andrews Priory High School in HI.
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From 2013 - 2015 Melody taught at the Belle Haven Club in Virginia and from 2015 -2017 at Ft Meade and the United States Naval Academy Priory School in Annapolis, MD. One of the highlights of her tennis years was being the hitting partner and personal assistant for a WTA ranked player. She is actively training some amazing up and commers who are working hard to earn a shot on the WTA tour.
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Education: Melody earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Rowan University and later completed her Master's Degree in Sports Administration at the University of Hawaii.
Family: Melody has been married for 24 years and has three kids (19,16 & 12).
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