Saugus athlete goes far in TV singing competition

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Saugus High grad Jeremy Glinoga has had basketball coaches and volleyball coaches. He’s also had singing coaches.

Most recently, his coach has been “Coach Sharon” from The Voice Teens Philippines, a network show nearly identical to the American show “The Voice.”

Coach Sharon helped him reach the show finale, which was on July 30, as one of four top finishers.

Glinoga said he has been singing since he was about 5 years old, thanks to some help from his dad.

His dad was also the one to bring The Voice to Glinoga’s attention.

“It was an online audition so we were talking about it, and he said, ‘Jeremy, why not? Why don’t we just try this?’” said Glinoga, who sent in two songs, one in English and one in Tagalog, a common language in the Philippines.

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Glinoga was selected for blind auditions in March. He had just finished up varsity basketball season with the Centurions and was slated to begin volleyball soon.

Something had to go.

“I didn’t know … if I was going to make it to volleyball season because I didn’t know when they wanted me to be here,” Glinoga said. “So I had to give up playing volleyball in order to make everything better to handle.”

He even missed walking at graduation in May to continue with the singing competition.

Although he left his normal high school life behind, basketball stayed with him. Kids in sandals shuffled through the streets, shooting at handmade hoops.

“They would actually play any time, any day as long as there’s a hoop,” Glinoga said. “As long as there’s a hoop, you’ll see them playing.”

Glinoga and his mom are currently living with Glinoga’s cousin, who has a basketball court in his village. Every now and then, he’ll shoot around to get away from the pressures of singing.

“Whenever I was on the basketball court, I felt at ease and at home,” he said.

With hopes of a professional singing career, Glinoga is taking a gap year. He’ll use some of the skills he sharpened in sports to figure out who will be on his latest team.

“You have to make connections with everybody in the music industry, so I think it’s kind of teamwork and socialization skills,” he said. “And hard work, because I can’t just rely on my talent of singing to propel me forward.”

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