Jake Gibb

Founder, Owner and Head Coach, Jacob Spiker Gibb, had a long and successful career in professional beach volleyball. Jake began his professional career in 2001 and been setting records ever since.

Gibb placed first in 34 AVP tournaments and 7 FIVB International tournaments. The four-time Olympian earned multiple Team of the Year Awards (USAV, FIVB, AVP) as well as three MVP awards (AVP), and was crowned FIVB Tour Champion in 2012.

Jake officially retired from pro beach volleyball in 2021 after competing in his fourth Olympics, but his story is not done yet. He is now focused on developing the next generation of elite players by establishing Spiker Beach Volleyball Club.

Marty Suan

Owner, Partner, Coach, Marty Suan started playing in high school in his hometown of Perth, Western Australia. As a junior he represented Australia at the first FIVB U21 World Championship and as a senior on the World Tour.

When Marty retired from playing, he turned his attention to coaching. While at the Australian Institute of Sport, Marty led the developmental men’s program and assisted the senior national teams. He coached on the World Tour and numerous FIVB Junior World Championships before returning home to co-found Perth Beach Volleyball School. He rejoined the World Tour in 2013 and in 2015 was awarded Volleyball Australia’s Coach of the Year.

He was recruited by AVPFirst and served as Director of Programs. In 2019, he became AVP Director of Sport and Competition and served as the Tournament Director for Pro events. In 2021, he returned as Competitions Manager. In 2024 Marty was recognized by AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association), as the 2024 Beach Club Director of the Year.

Gina Henderson

Director of Operations, Gina Henderson, started paying beach volleyball while in college, and that love of the sport carried her through her 30-year corporate career as a weekend warrior.

In 2015 she began assisting a friend with her beach club, and in 2021 she joined Jake Gibb to help start a new venture, Spiker Beach Volleyball Club. A true passion project, Gina has dedicated her efforts to helping Spiker Beach grow into a strong club that puts culture and athletes first and foremost.

While consulting part time, Gina still enjoys getting on the beach to play. “I am truly proud of what we have built and blessed to give back to this game that has given me so much”.

Madison Arnold

Madison Arnold, our Operation and Outreach Coordinator, began playing beach and indoor volleyball at a young age in Santa Monica, California. She competed for four years at Vanguard University at the collegiate level. While earning her Bachelor’s of Arts in Communications, she was named a Second Team All-American and won two national championships. Madison has coached both indoor and beach volleyball since 2021 and is passionate about inspiring the younger generation.

Melanie Godel

Melanie Godel was a member of the Junior National Team in 1998 and 1999, and on the U-23 German National Beach Volleyball Team from 2000 to 2002. Melanie placed fifth at the European Beach Volleyball Championships in 2000.

She began her collegiate career at Long Beach State where she played for two years before transferring to the East coast where she led Long Island University to back-to-back Conference Championship titles. After college, Melanie went on to play professional indoor volleyball in Germany. She started her professional Beach Volleyball career in 2008.

Melanie is a Certified Personal Trainer and owner of MG Performance & Health, specializing in training elite athletes. She is still competing in AVP and Open tournaments and has been an AAA player since 2008.

Christine DeRoos

Christine DeRoos, started her volleyball journey in Carlsbad, California playing for Tamarack Beach Volleyball Club. She played D1 beach volleyball at Long Beach State for four years and will be competing for UC Berkley while obtaining her master’s degree in Cultural Studies of Sport in Education.

In addition to collegiate beach volleyball, Christine regularly plays in CBVA and AVP tournaments.

John Braunstein

John Braunstein is a seasoned beach volleyball coach and former professional AVP player with over two decades of experience in training, competition, and program development. He has coached at all levels, from youth development camps to elite national and collegiate teams.

His coaching resume includes working with the Japanese Men’s National Beach Volleyball Team and top-tier professionals from the AVP and FIVB. John also created and ran private beach volleyball clinics and was instrumental in starting and developing the Spikers Beach Volleyball Camp.

John currently is the coach for the Women’s Beach Volleyball team at Orange Coast College, and the Boy’s Beach Volleyball team at Mater Dei High School.

Makai Lipson

Makai Lipson has been playing beach volleyball since elementary school. He was a part of the USA U20 National Team in 2021. Makai has 6-years of experience coaching both boys and girls, beach and indoor volleyball.

Makai just graduated in 2025 from Concordia University, Irvine with a B.A. in Psychology and is currently pursuing his Master’s in coaching at Concordia. He was a setter for 4 years for the Men’s indoor program at Concordia. He is now the Graduate Assistant Coach, and playing on the AVP.

Milan Ray

Milan Ray, originally from Dallas, Texas moved to Hermosa Beach, California, the summer before her junior year of high school to pursue top level beach volleyball training. She found exactly that and more at Spiker.

Milan spent her first two collegiate seasons playing beach volleyball at the University of Utah, where she studied Business Marketing, at the Eccles School of Business. She is excited to continue both her academic and athletic journey at the University of Hawai‘i, where she will be finishing her last two years of eligibility!

Brooke Birch

Brooke Birch, a Spiker Beach Volleyball Club alum was a starter during her freshman year at Grand Canyon University, where she earned All-Freshman Team honors.

She transferred to Long Beach State, where she now competes and is entering her junior year. Brooke is studying Kinesiology with an emphasis in Sports Psychology. Since 2022, she has been coaching beach volleyball and is passionate about mentoring the next generation of athletes.

Demi Wagdy

Demi Wagdy, started her indoor and beach volleyball career young in Norco California, and went to Spiker for her Senior year of High school. She just finished her freshman year at Long Beach State, where she earned multiple honors, Big West Freshman of the Year, Big West All Second Team, Pair of the Week, and AVCA Top Flight. Additionally, Demi is majoring in Kinesiology- Exercise Science.

Gigi Gallegos

Gigi Gallegos plays beach volleyball at Tulane University. She started her first year and earned all-freshman team for my conference and CUSA Championships all-tournament team.

Gigi has been playing volleyball for 8-years and beach for the last 6. She played for Spiker throughout high school. She is on the pre-med track, majoring in cell and molecular biology with a minor in psychology.