Melinda grew up in Germany and moved to Holland MI with her family when she was 16. In Germany Melinda started vaulting at age 6 and competed on the C and B team for several years and A team on her last year in Germany. When she moved to the states she found A Vaulting Connection and in addition to becoming a coach, competed regionally and nationally at the silver level- and was part of our C team! In 2013 Melinda moved to Seattle, WA due to her job, but that didn’t keep her away from vaulting. She trained with Warm Beach Vaulters for 2 years. After the club’s head coach retired Melinda adopted a dog named Beaux, a 5 year old German Shepherd mix and got involved in Flyball, agility and scent training and enjoyed going on weekly hikes. She also began volunteering for a dog rescue fostering and training dogs who were waiting to find their forever homes.  Now Melinda is back in MI and we are so excited that she will once again be a coach! And who knows- maybe even catch a glimpse of her and Leoni back behind the vaulting surcingle for old times sake!