Melissa Soligo (born February 7, 1969, in Trail, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian curler and curling coach, currently living in Victoria, British Columbia.

Melissa Soligo
 
Born (1969-02-07) February 7, 1969 (age 55)
Team
Curling clubVictoria CC, Victoria, BC
Juan de Fuca CC, Victoria, BC
Curling career
Member Association British Columbia
Hearts appearances4 (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993)
World Championship
appearances
1 (1991)
Olympic
appearances
1 (1992 - demo)
Medal record
Women's curling
Representing  Canada
Winter Olympics
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Albertville (demonstration)
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1991 Winnipeg
Representing  British Columbia
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
Gold medal – first place 1991 Saskatoon
Silver medal – second place 1992 Halifax

Soligo began curling at age 11. In her youth, she also played volleyball, basketball, field hockey and fastball.

She is a 1991 World women's silver medallist and 1991 Canadian women's champion.

She won a bronze medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics when curling was a demonstration sport.[1]

Her competitive curling career was cut short when she was struck by an intoxicated driver while she was walking.[2] She then made the choice to switch to coaching. Early in her career she focused on coaching junior teams in Canada. In 2002 she began coaching the South Korean curling teams where under her leadership the men's team won the Pacific Curling Championship. She has also been the national team leader of Curling Canada's wheelchair curling program, the coach of BC's wheelchair curling team and is currently a national coach, mentor coach and High Performance Director at CurlBC.

Personal life

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Soligo has a bachelor of education degree with a major in physical education and geography from the University of Victoria.[3] Achieved her Level 5 Professional Coach Certification (one of only two in Canada who have this in curling).[4]

Awards

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  • Joan Mead Builder Award: 2018 ("for her contributions to curling as a player, coach and High Performance Director at Curl BC")[5]
  • British Columbia Curling Hall of Fame: 1996, together with all of the Julie Sutton 1991–1993 team.[6]

Teams and events

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Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate Events
1987–88 Colleen Hannah Melissa Soligo Lori Atkins Tracy Butt CJCC 1988 (4th)
1988–89 Julie Sutton Pat Sanders Georgina Hawkes Melissa Soligo Diane Nelson STOH 1989 (5th)
1990–91 Julie Sutton Jodie Sutton Melissa Soligo Karri Willms Elaine Dagg-Jackson STOH 1991  
WCC 1991  
1991–92 Julie Sutton Jodie Sutton Melissa Soligo Karri Willms Elaine Dagg-Jackson STOH 1992  
WOG 1992 (demo)  
1992–93 Julie Sutton Jodie Sutton Melissa Soligo Karri Willms Elaine Dagg-Jackson STOH 1993 (4th)

Record as a coach of national teams

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Year Tournament, event National team Place
2002 2002 Pacific Curling Championships   South Korea (men)
 
2004 2004 World Junior Curling Championships   South Korea (men)
4
2004 2004 Pacific Curling Championships   South Korea (women)
 
2016 2016 World Mixed Curling Championship   Canada (mixed)
5

References

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  1. ^ Official Report 1992W page 630 - Olympic Official Reports Collection
  2. ^ "PARC: Promoting Awareness of RSD and CRPS in Canada". www.rsdcanada.org. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  3. ^ "Melissa Soligo | Coaching Association of Canada". Archived from the original on 2019-08-30.
  4. ^ https://old.curlbc.ca/honour-curl-bc-provincial-coach-symposium-success/
  5. ^ "Award winners and All Stars announced during playoff weekend at Scotties Tournament of Hearts". Curling Canada. February 6, 2018.
  6. ^ Hall of Fame Inductees - Curl BC
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