Any coaching opportunity, Melissa-Paul Gardner jumps at it.
It’s what led her to start coaching for Hartselle City Schools in Alabama after playing volleyball at Wallace State Community College. It’s what led her to Muncie’s storied Munciana Volleyball Club. And it’s why, when a resignation left a void in Cowan volleyball, Gardner didn’t hesitate to try to fill that post.
“I saw it as a perfect opportunity just to take my first step into head coaching,” Gardner, 23, said.
Gardner fell in love with the school and her program’s players this past year while she coached the junior varsity squad and worked as a special education aide at Cowan.