Yaphet Melendez

Field Hockey Specialist

My name is Yaphet Melendez and 26 years old. I am originally from Puerto Rico. I come from a family of 4, my parents and my younger brother. I started playing field hockey at the age of 12 years old and since then I felt in love with the sport. I joined the team Athletic Hockey Club and together we achieve 2 national championship 2011 and 2013. When I was 17 years old, I was recruited by the national team of Puerto Rico as a practice player. A year later I started playing and traveling with the national team. I have represented my country in different tournaments such as U21 Pan-American games in Guadalajara Mexico, Inter American cup in Panama, Olympic qualifier in Jamaica, international scrimmage in Dominican Republic and Mexico City.

In 2014 I decided to move to The United States for school. I did a bachelor’s degree in Physical education at North Carolina Central University. Awhile I was getting my degree in school I work as a part-time in a high school as a head field hockey coach. I was also a member of the UNC Field Hockey Club team for 5 seasons, which won National Championships in 2014 & 2015 and most recently in 2018.
I love to travel so every summer since 2017 my brother and I started doing road-trip along all the east coast from Chapel hill, North Carolina to Boston working in different camps and using the free time to explore each place we visited. That’s how I got to meet most of my field hockey friends.

I’m very happy and honored to work with The Vault. The energy, hard work and the positiveness that the people transmit it is incredible. I’m sure that working together we will achieve many good things. Looking forward to meeting you all.