When Melinda Espinoza steps onto the court at Bourgade Catholic High School, she is greeted by the low-humming sound from the gym lights, along with the cheers that come from the stands and her team shouting in pregame warmups. Entering her 10th season as the coach of the volleyball team, the 48 year old has become very familiar with the noises inside the gym. Melinda’s team finished the regular season 15-15.

This upcoming spring, when the radiant Phoenix sun is shining and accompanied by warm and fresh air, Michael Espinoza will find himself sitting in the dugout at the softball diamond for his second season leading the softball team. The 47 year old is the softball coach, and he’s also spent three seasons with the football program. 

Together, they are entering their 21st season as husband and wife. 

Their year-round coaching schedule includes volleyball and football season running simultaneously, and a full spring of Michael coaching softball, while Melinda spends most of the time watching their sons play baseball. Despite their kids being involved with sports at Bourgade, the couple found a way to avoid bringing their whistles home with them when it comes to parenting.

“I do know our advice to our kids comes from our background of being a coach,” Melinda said. “When the kids ask sport issues or things like that, we know how it is. So our advice to them — we can’t help but use our background to give them that advice.”

But even when they draw on lessons from the game, that doesn't mean it's all sports all the time. 

“Last year I got to coach my son, who is a junior now, and I made it a point — I didn’t want to bring whatever happened on the field home,” Michael said. “So I don’t do that as much as I thought I would. Every once (in a while) I’ll give suggestions, but I really don’t coach them like you would think.”

Seated next to Melinda on the bench is Carissa Allen. The 24-year-old assistant coach is extremely familiar with the Espinozas from her time at Central High School, where Melinda coached her in volleyball for a year and Michael was her softball coach and weight-training teacher. She describes the Espinozas as “super competitive.”

Allen had aspirations to play collegiate volleyball, and Michael was determined to push Allen in a positive way to help her get to where she wanted to go. 

“I saw the results, and I did well in that class, and I did well throughout college because I had that mindset of there’s people working and you need to work ten times harder than them,” Allen explained. “He was always there to push me.”

Allen recounted a time when she was doing deadlifts with Michael, and she was on the verge of quitting around 205 pounds. She said that Michael was quick to push and inspire her to go harder and she could lift even more. Allen said Michael never sugarcoated things, but he was also still quick to say “I believe in you.”

“I know seeing her in weight training class every day those four years, I knew she was a volleyball player. She was a good soccer player too, and she played softball for me, but her goal was always to go play college volleyball,” Michael said. “I would just push her in the weight room and remind her what her goal was.”

He continued: “We’ve had numerous kids throughout the years say I want to do this, well what’s your plan to do it, and we help them with their plan. Whether it be with education, or lifting, or getting their name out there for colleges. We just try to find out what the kids want and help them with it. For me, getting a kid recruited and having a coach talk to them, that’s the thrill of it.”

Melinda expressed gratitude to Allen and the other former players that have come back to help her with the team. 

“I’ve had many kids that I’ve coached that now have come back and coached with me, and to me that’s the biggest compliment ever,” Melinda said.

And Allen feels complimented, too. 

“Honestly, it’s great. I mean, in a way, I feel like she trusts me enough to want me to coach with her. So that says a lot to me personally. Just being on the sideline with her — it’s honestly a great opportunity,” she said. “It makes me very hopeful for what the next seasons have to come with her.”

Although it's being her first year coaching volleyball, Allen said she finds comfort in the fact that she hears herself telling the girls on the team some of the same things that Melinda is saying to them too.

“It’s kind of funny because when we’re saying stuff to the girls, we say the same thing. So it’s great to have that,” she said. 

While Michael doesn’t get to see Melinda work much, he loves to watch his wife find success on the court. 

“No one likes to see a spouse or a coaching colleague always losing and miserable,” Michael said earlier this season. “When I see her put in the hard work with the girls and it’s starting to pay off, it makes me feel good. Because I’m proud of all the hard work she’s putting in is starting to pay off. The season is heading in a good direction, the girls are working hard and [Melinda] and Carissa are busting their tails to get these girls ready and it’s starting to show.”

In Michael’s first season with the Golden Eagles, the team went 8-19, but Melinda knows her husband is capable of taking the program to higher levels. Michael was the varsity coach at St. Mary’s High School, where he led the program since 2013. Melinda said that the opportunity for Michael to come to Bourgade where he could watch his sons play baseball was the primary reason for coming to the school. 

“I’ve seen him build a program, and so I know it’s going to be there,” Melinda said. “He’s done it before at St. Mary’s, he took a program that was down to nothing and then built it back up. So he’s going to be the same thing again. I get proud of him for doing that and then just keep encouraging him.”

Despite their busy schedules, when the couple has found time to watch each other coach, they both said there were times when they would watch and see if they could pick up any coaching tips from the other. From communication with players and coaches to installing game plans and later executing those plans, the Espinozas are always looking to improve, especially from each other.

“When my daughter was over at Bourgade, I’d go to the games a lot and I’d watch not only her, but  watch what Melinda was doing,” Michael said. “Some of the decisions she would make during the game, and how she would talk to her players. Just typical coaching, trying to figure out what they’re doing, how she does things — maybe I might like doing that.”

“I saw him a few times when he was at St. Mary’s, but now that he’s over at Bourgade, I’ve seen probably a few more games than I ever would have seen,” Melinda said. “So I do watch him, how he talks to the kids and I’ll ask stuff when he gets home that night like ‘Hey what was that about? What happened? What are you going to do about this?’, once we get home.”

Even though the Espinozas have well over a decade of combined coaching experience, there is still one opponent neither of them has been able to top: their kids.

“Our kids still think we know nothing,” Melinda said.