A standout tennis player at the NCAA Div. I level, Jonathan Sanchez begins his first season as a head coach, taking over the reigns in the 2010-11 season.

Sanchez inherits a women's program that has advanced to the NAIA National Championships semifinals for two consecutive seasons and a men's program that has made the quarterfinal round two times in a row as well.

As a player, Sanchez served as team captain in his senior year at Brigham Young, where he played at the No. 1 position of both singles and doubles in his final collegiate campaign.

At Brigham Young, Sanchez both played for and coached with Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Famer Brad Pearce, who was ranked as high as No. 71 in the world during his career in the professional circuit.

Sanchez has been coaching and giving private lessons at Fullerton and La Habra Tennis Centers since returning to Southern California, where he graduated from Servite High School in Anaheim back in 2004.

He spent his summers while a college student coaching at Rosary High School Summer Tennis Camp at the Fullerton Tennis Center, where he began coaching junior players.

Sanchez, a regular attendee at Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton, received the Southern California Sportsmanship Award while a prep at Servite, which won the CIF State Championship in 2004.

Sanchez is single and lives in Fullerton.