6/12/2020 | Women’s Flag Football
BABSON PARK, Fla. (June 12, 2020) – Director of Athletics Darren Richie has announced the hiring of Jeffrey Melesky as the first Head Women’s Flag Football Coach at Webber International University.
Melesky will come to Webber with a strong history of success as a high school flag football and cheerleading coach to go along with his recent success coaching women’s club flag football at the University of Florida (Gainesville, Fla.) from 2017-2020. At UF, the Gators’ women’s club flag football team won its national championship in 2018, 2019 and again in 2020.
Melesky was also an assistant girls’ flag football coach at Lennard High School (Ruskin, Fla.) this past season in 2020.
At Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida, Melesky was the Head Cheerleading Coach from 2010-2019, was an assistant flag football coach from 2014-2019, and most recently was an assistant girls’ soccer coach in 2020. His flag football teams at Robinson were state champions in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 while his cheerleading team won its state championship in 2012. In 2011, Melesky was named the Hillsborough County Coach of the Year for cheerleading.
Melesky has NCAA Division-II coaching experience as the Head Cheerleading Coach at the University of Tampa (Tampa, Fla.) from 2004-2008. During this time, Melesky also worked as the assistant to the sports information director, the assistant to the director of athletic marketing, and was the public address announcer for soccer, volleyball and baseball.
Before his time in Florida, Melesky was an assistant cheer coach at NCAA Division-I Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Va.) from 2002-2004.
From 1998-2012, Melesky worked for All-American Cheer and Dance assisting with the production and choreography of the NFL Pro Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Last but not least, Melesky held various coaching positions at Prince George High School (Prince George, Va.) from 1995-1998, including cheer coach, boys’ and girls’ basketball coach, and boys’ soccer coach. From 2014-2020, Melesky has returned to Prince George High School each year as a Cheer Camp director and choreographer.
Melesky earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communications studies from Virginia Tech in 2002.
Coach Melesky and the Webber women’s flag football team will start recruiting immediately and will begin NAIA competition in the spring of 2021 using the new Warrior turf field on campus to practice and play home games.
In addition to being the newest sport within the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the NAIA is partnering with the National Football League (NFL) and Reigning Champs Experiences (RCX) to bring the newest collegiate sport to a campus near you.
With support from NFL FLAG and RCX, the NAIA will work to develop league infrastructure and operations for the first women’s flag football competition governed by a collegiate athletics association.
The NAIA will begin working with NFL FLAG and RCX immediately to outline competition guidelines and next steps for schools and conferences interested in instituting women’s flag. The first competitive season will be held in the spring of 2021.
The NAIA will host an emerging sport or invitational championship in the spring of 2022. An emerging sport in the NAIA is defined as at least 15 participating institutions, while invitational can be defined as at least 25. A sport must have a minimum of 40 participating institutions to be considered for full championship status.