You don’t magically become somebody different when the pressure hits. You reveal who you’ve been preparing to be. Pressure doesn’t build your habits, it [00:01:00] exposes them. I’m blessed to coach a Big Ten collegiate wrestler, an absolute stud. We’re talking about those tight matches where the crowd is loud, your lungs are burning, and 20 seconds left and you need a takedown.

I told him, “Brother, this is not the time to start searching for another gear. That gear needs to already exist.” It was built during the extra reps, the conditioning, when nobody was watching, drilling the same position until the reaction became automatic, getting your mind right before you ever stepped on the mat, because when chaos shows up, you don’t have time to negotiate with yourself.

And squad, this is not just wrestling. That’s presentation, that’s difficult conversation, that’s the sales call. That moment when life punches you right in the mouth, you’re probably not going to suddenly become disciplined, courageous, calm, and prepared. You’re going to default to what you practice. So stop asking yourself, “Will I be ready when my moment comes?”

Ask a better question, “What am I practicing today that I can trust when the moment comes?” Prepare with intention, stack the reps, build the habits, because when pressure finally introduces you to yourself, make sure you recognize the person standing there. And my next guest knows all about pressure. She doesn’t just coach the game.

She knows how to win it, mold women, and building a winning [00:02:00] culture. Ally Denny is head beach volleyball coach at New College of Florida, a former Division I athlete who competed at the University of South Carolina and at FIU and today still competes while coaching full time. What started as a coaching to help fund her travels quickly became a calling, and she’s become pretty darn good at it.

Ally led the Mighty Banyans to the perfect ten and 0 conference season and their first Sun Conference regular season championship, earning her the 2026 Sun Conference Beach Volleyball Coach of the Year honors. But what makes Ally’s story stand out is that she understands winning is about more than what happens on the court.

With a background in psychology, kinesiology, and exercise science, she brings the mind-body together, building athletes, build confidence, handle pressure, compete with purpose, and become stronger versions of themselves on and off the sand. And I love this part of her story. She’s still in the arena. Ally continues to compete while coaching, so when she’s asked her athletes to stay disciplined, embrace adversity, and raise their standards, she’s not speaking from the sidelines.

She’s living it right along s- side them. She’s a competitor, a teacher, a culture builder, [00:03:00] and an award-winning coach who practices what she preaches. And Ally, I’m so glad you came on, and I just have to say that your pops is one of my coaches. A- and I absolutely love John Denny, so a big shout-out to John and his awesome wife, Barry, and Luke, your brother.

Ali Denney: Yes. 

Coach Fergie: But welcome to the show. 

Ali Denney: Thank you for having me. 

Coach Fergie: Yeah. So you grew up in… You were born in Maui, right? 

Ali Denney: Born on Maui, yep. 

Coach Fergie: So you have one of the best volleyball minds ever in Gabby Reece- yes … that, that you could actually pick the the, her group. Her brain with stuff, but- 

Ali Denney: Yeah … 

Coach Fergie: you grew up in Florida.

Played Division 1 beach volleyball and now basically live your life around the sand. Was beach volleyball always gonna find you, or did you find beach volleyball? 

Ali Denney: On Maui, my dad played with Laird and Gabby- … and he was one of her, practice players. So I was always around it, but on Maui I rode horses, ’cause they didn’t have recreational sports for girls.

So then when we moved to Florida, I was like, “It’s way too hot to fi- to do an outdoor sport- … being in riding pants.” And so I decided to try indoor volleyball. And then two years [00:04:00] later found beach volleyball, and I was like, “This is way more fun.” I love being at the beach, and then… So I think it was always gonna find me, and I just ran with it.

Coach Fergie: Wow. That… And you originally got into coaching partly to help pay for traveling? 

Ali Denney: Yes. Yeah. So it’s a way to mold your schedule to, around the tournaments that you want to play. Got 

Coach Fergie: you. 

Ali Denney: So it’s a little bit easier to fund it, and instead of working a traditional 9:00 to 5:00, you can have your day and then go coach at night.

Coach Fergie: And I notice you have different partners sometimes that you play with. 

Ali Denney: Yeah, all the time. 

Coach Fergie: Is that… So it’s not like the… Who’s the big one? The Misty May-Treanor and- 

Ali Denney: Yeah … 

Coach Fergie: Kerri Walsh, right? Yep. They were, like, the big ones that you always saw them together. Totally. Do you have certain people that without calling anybody out or- 

Ali Denney: Yeah

Coach Fergie: But do you like to play with? 

Ali Denney: Totally. Yeah. One of my, one of my partners that I play a lot with, her name is Lydia Smith. We’ve had a lot of success together. 

Coach Fergie: She’s the taller one? 

Ali Denney: Super tall. 

Coach Fergie: And no offense, but everyone’s taller than you, Ally. 

Ali Denney: Oh, yeah. 

Coach Fergie: But you get out, man. Thank you. Your ups are sick.

Thank you. I see that. Thank you. Okay. 

Ali Denney: Thank you. Yeah, so I- So shout out to her … I try to look for those, those tall partners. Lydia’s one of the girls I play with very often. 

And she’s awesome. We’ve had a lot of [00:05:00] success together over the years, but that’s what you look for in beach volleyball, is you look for that magic partnership, like Misty May and Kerri Walsh had.

Coach Fergie: Yeah. And they had it for so long. 

Ali Denney: Yeah. They were lucky ones, yeah. 

Coach Fergie: So when was that moment when you realized “Wait a minute, I’m not just doing this for extra money. I actually love coaching”? 

Ali Denney: Yeah … 

Coach Fergie: when was that? When did 

Ali Denney: that hit you? That happened in 2021 when I started working for a company called Better at Beach.

And I wa- started doing that with my fiancé, JM. And so Better at Beach is a company that coaches adult volleyball players who love the game, maybe picked it up later, old college players who wanna learn how to just improve the game. So we started coaching these seven-day-long camps. 

And I was like, “This is pretty cool.”

You know- For 

Steve Austin (Rize Mortgage, Show Sponsor): adults, 

Ali Denney: or- For adults. Okay. Yeah. So we did that for about three years, and then I was like, “Man, I’m pretty good at this.” People started booking private lessons with me- … and I was getting booked throughout the week along with the group sessions, and I was like, “All right. I think I could be pretty good at this.”

Wow. So that really started then, yeah. 

Coach Fergie: Volleyball [00:06:00] myself is, it wasn’t shoved down my throat, but my- Yeah … dad was gonna be an alternate for the ’68 team. 

Ali Denney: No way. 

Coach Fergie: Yeah, my dad is 6’5″, he’s a big dude. 

Ali Denney: That’s 

Coach Fergie: incredible. And then he, no one really knew. He’s this farm boy, and then in the Air Force he’s start playing.

Ali Denney: What? 

Coach Fergie: And then the next thing they’re like, “Oh hey,” and then something had came up. It’s called war. Yeah. So he wasn’t able to- … really go and do that, ’cause it was all during the Vietnam conflict and whatnot. Gotcha. But but you’ve experienced, Ally, high-level volleyball from both sides of the whistle, we’ll call it.

Yeah. What did Ally the player completely misunderstand about coaching that Ally the coach understands now? 

Ali Denney: Yeah. I would say mindset is number one. Okay. I’ve always been, like, a work hard, get what you want, but now as a coach we’ve dove really far into growth mindset, and just having a growth mindset, being a learner on the court, and continuing to learn through strategy, finding different ways to be successful and be creative in that.

So I would say I wasn’t the most coachable when I was a- … when I was growing [00:07:00] up. I’m a little bit stubborn. So becoming a coach, I recognize that in athletes, and I had a couple coaches who recognized that in me, and they’re just like, “All right. Just let her go play.” 

But had I had a different mindset, I think my career could have even taken a even bigger path.

So mindset is number one for sure. ‘

Coach Fergie: Cause you played for the Gamecocks and then- Yep … FIU, right? 

Ali Denney: Yep. 

Coach Fergie: So that’s not low-level- 

Ali Denney: No … 

Coach Fergie: volleyball. No. It’s super legit- Yeah … which is crazy. ‘Cause I do follow the sport. Yeah. Did you play in eight-person, t- size, or was it always smaller?

Ali Denney: No. So I played beach- Beach … which is two on two. 

Coach Fergie: Two on two. Yeah. All the time, right? 

Ali Denney: All the time. Okay. Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: Awesome. So- You studied psychology and then earned your master’s degree in kinesiology and exercise science. See, and funny thing is, when I was in the military, I did these thing called CLEP courses- where you could go to college at sea- Oh, yeah … and stuff like that. And kinesiology was the thing that I was thinking about, and then my whole life went a different direction. But when I see it the which is awesome. Yeah. 

Introduction: Totally. 

Coach Fergie: But your coaching philosophy now incorporates, like you talked about mental [00:08:00] toughness- movement science, growth mindset, and motor learning. Yes. So when an athlete is struggling, like, how do you determine whether they’re dealing with a technical problem, a physical problem, or I’d like to coach from here, right? Yeah. What’s between their temples? Like, how, what is your secret sauce?

This is gonna help me with my coaching, by the way. Yeah, 

Ali Denney: totally. 

Coach Fergie: So what is your secret sauce for that? 

Ali Denney: Totally. Our secret sauce is we tap into the mindset first. What’s your mindset like? Are you really focused at the goal, on the goal at hand? Or are you- Halfway focused and then distracted by something else.

So we do our best to ask open-ended questions, and then we find that the better we can ask a question of, who, how, what, when, rather than a yes or no question, diving the athlete into really figuring out, out themselves so that they create the answer that they’re looking for. And we’re there as guides.

We’re not there to just hand hold and- Help with this. Yes … give them the answers. Yeah. We’re really there to guide them towards what we’ve experienced and what we think could work. 

[00:09:00] But really everybody’s different,

Coach Fergie: yeah, we all know what we want. We just don’t know how to talk ourselves into it.

Totally. And that’s the coaching philosophy that I work with, and a lot of people are consultants even though they say they’re coaches. Absolutely. You say, do this.” I have… and I say this I’m blessed to coach a billionaire. Me too. And he has a hedge fund. And he’s like who am I to say anything about his business?

But there’s just this gap- Yeah … that he’s missing that kinda gets him back on track. And I believe that everybody that has a problem the challenge, the solution’s right there, right? Yeah. So how do you bring that, them to attention to their solution? What is what is some of your practice habits that you have with them?

Ali Denney: Yeah, absolutely. So at our practice every day we start with mindset, and it’s five- Love it … minutes to just get present. So the first five minutes of practice every day is some sort of minds- mindfulness practice, you pull from 

Coach Fergie: the harmony exercises I teach? 

Ali Denney: Yeah. We do the G7 with the team.

Coach Fergie: Love it. 

Ali Denney: Yeah. Love it. So they love that. 

Coach Fergie: That’s how I learned the G7, is watching your videos. 

Ali Denney: Oh, no way. Swear, 

Coach Fergie: [00:10:00] yeah. 

Ali Denney: Yeah. We gotta redo that. That was a long time ago. That’s a old one. But yeah, so we do the G7 with the team, and we have a few that we cycle through. So sometimes we do things called a weather check, which is just five minutes of them having conversation with one of their teammates.

And then we’ll give them different tasks for that. Another one is they’ll sit in a circle, close their eyes, and just popcorn count to 100. So they just count to 100. When they feel present, it’s their turn to say a number. Wow … and so we just kinda have this list of mindfulness, social noting, different things that we go through like that, and that really gets them present, and then- Our number one rule at practice is zero judgment.

So not only zero judgment with your teammates, but with yourself. And that’s really the biggest challenge for girls 18 to 22- … who, the age we’re coaching right now. And zero judgment with yourself, that’s something I’ve continued to- Huge for young women. It’s huge. Oh, my gosh. Huge. Yes.

Especially with society and everything. Yes. The, the pressures. And being collegiate athletes right now is super challenging. 

[00:11:00] And so zero judgment and having a growth mindset. Just be a learner, and we find that those, the people who embrace those two things are the most successful in our program, and we call ourselves scientists out there.

So we’re just like- Love it … always learning,

Coach Fergie: yeah, always. E- exactly. And so w- now that you’re 10 and 0 and you won the conference championship, I’m sure people, you’re gonna get a little bit more attention to have people come to, it’s New College of Florida? New 

Ali Denney: College of Florida, yep. 

Coach Fergie: New College of Florida.

So like I’m not saying you’re picky- … but you can be like, the, to lack of a better term, buy into your mindset. Is that something that now that you… ‘Cause when you’re six and five you’re like, “Who’s this coach?” You had to prove yourself to them. 

Ali Denney: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: Now it’s almost like people, not saying they have to prove, but be willing to work and be open to the mindset, right?

Ali Denney: Totally. 

Coach Fergie: Is that something that you’re having conversations with new recruits and stuff like that? 

Ali Denney: Absolutely. Okay. In the recruiting process we talk a lot about that. We talk a lot about what our coaching philosophies are, because they are a little bit different than the [00:12:00] old school style. We’re this new school style of coaching where, hey, we’re not gonna handhold you through this process. We’re here to guide you. We’re here to help you not only become a better volleyball player, but a better person. 

Steve Austin (Rize Mortgage, Show Sponsor): Love that. 

Ali Denney: And so we really want them to, love their experience. I’m a big believer in you only get to do college once.

Yes. So make it- … make it rad. Make it the best time ever. 

Coach Fergie: Make it the best time. I love it. 

And squad, talking about rad, we’re gonna come back and we’re gonna throw it to my sponsor, Steve Austin with Rise Mortgage, who I’m super blessed to have. And we’re gonna come back and kinda talk with my good friend Ally here, Coach Ally, about standards and how she holds her athletes to standards and holds herself to standards.

Steve, take it away.

Steve Austin (Rize Mortgage, Show Sponsor): Thanks, Scott. Happy Saturday, everyone. This is Steve Austin with the Rise Mortgage Dynamic Team here with your Mortgage Nugget of the week. Are you struggling to find the home you want to purchase? You may just not be looking in the right places. Don’t miss out on the home you’ve been looking for just because you didn’t see it.

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this week. This is Steve Austin, your branch manager, NMLS 762328 of the Rise Mortgage Dynamic Team, NMLS 1604663, an equal housing lender. 

Rize Mortgage Sponsor: Are you looking to finance your dream home, vacation getaway, or an investment property? The Rise Mortgage Dynamic Team and Company is here to help. Steve Austin and his team, their expert loan advisors, combine local knowledge with cutting-edge technology to make your financing process efficient and seamless.

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Coach Fergie: Hey, Stevie, thank you so much for the sponsorship, and also that mortgage knowledge nugget. I- most of the rates are standing firm right now, but they’re- they’ll be coming down soon. I can really feel it. And I’m back with my good friend Ally Denny, the offspring of one of my mindset coaches, John Denny, who’s…

And Ally is just absolutely phenomenal coach. Again, coach of the year your first year. 

Ali Denney: Yes. 

Coach Fergie: The, it- it’s just amazing. So- 

Ali Denney: Thank you … 

Coach Fergie: I like to say that goals are nothing but byproducts of your standards. 

What do you think about that? Love that. 

Ali Denney: I love that. Okay. It’s so true. It’s so real. You can have a goal, but if you’re not actually living to do those things that will push you towards that goal every single day- Right

it, it’s just something written on a piece of paper. 

Coach Fergie: It’s just there. 

Ali Denney: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: It’s [00:15:00] like a, a plan, or with, plan without action is a wish. 

Ali Denney: Yeah. It’s so- Yeah. That’s so 

Coach Fergie: good … it’s so true. Yeah. But you, again, let- we’ll, gotta take it back to the six and five team, and no disrespect to whoever was there before, whatnot.

In conference play, right? It was conference play. Yes. Yep. That version. Okay. In the first season you’re 10 and 0. 

And com- a conference champion, what… That kind of jump doesn’t happen- … accidentally, right? So what changed inside the culture? And I know we might go back to mindset, but I, if we do, let’s go deeper into it.

But- Sure … what changed inside the culture that, anybody outside the program could see it on the scoreboard? You know what I’m saying? Yeah. Just what changed in it? 

Ali Denney: Totally. I think the girls saw how much we cared, and as coaches, it came from top down. So they were- Always

they had… yeah. It, so we had, there was a head coach before me, and a lot of the girls didn’t connect with her. 

Steve Austin (Rize Mortgage, Show Sponsor): Okay. 

Ali Denney: And so then I became the interim head coach, and I was like, I really want this to be awesome for you guys.” And so I started showing up. I showed up with practice plans. I showed [00:16:00] up with to weights.

I went to all their weight sessions. I was like really bought into them. 

Coach Fergie: Real quick. Is it two on two, like the- Yep. 

Ali Denney: Yep. Okay. Cool. Two on two. Okay, gotcha. And they run it like tennis, like a duel. So there’s five pairs that play. 

Coach Fergie: Got you. And 

Ali Denney: you gotta win three out of the five to win the duel against the other school.

Steve Austin (Rize Mortgage, Show Sponsor): Roger that. 

Ali Denney: Okay, got it. My fiance, JM, and I, we were like, “We’re gonna do this differently.” And so he came from an experience coaching at LMU out in California- … when we lived out there, and LMU has this new wave of coaching. It’s called the optimal learning theory. But it’s basically culture first, and the coach before me- Said she believed in culture first, but didn’t actually, live it.

And so we decided that, hey, if we’re gonna instill all of these standards with these girls, we gotta be the example of it too. 

And we can’t just, we have to walk the walk, we can’t just- 

… 

Ali Denney: Talk the walk. So that was a really big difference maker for them, and they were like, “Whoa, you guys are actually doing your best every day.

That makes us wanna do our best every day.” 

Coach Fergie: Love that. And, the one [00:17:00] thing about volleyball that kind of fascinates me, one the excellent athletes, it’s in the sand, but because once the match starts, there’s only two athletes out there. Solving problems together. 

Ali Denney: Absolutely. 

Coach Fergie: Right?

So you have to match that chemistry, with them, and that, you can’t call timeouts every 30 seconds and rescue them, so- 

… 

Coach Fergie: How do you coach athletes to think for themselves instead of becoming dependent on their coach? ‘Cause they see you out winning. I saw you won a $10,000 grant-

and stuff, that’s, and so- Yeah … they see you out there killing it. They can’t just run to you, go, “Oh, Coach.” And so what are you instilling in them to, for lack of a better term, killer instinct- Yeah … yet while, working together? 

Ali Denney: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: What is it? 

Ali Denney: We have, honestly, as weird as it sounds, we have a player manual, and the- Okay

the player manual lays out everything, all of our standards. So we have… We don’t do punishment. We d- we’re really big in positive reinforcement. Like you’re training a dog. So- … it is like that. So you’re training a dog, you don’t wanna just beat the crap out of the dog- … and then it’s not gonna listen to you.

It’s just gonna be scared of [00:18:00] you. We don’t want them to be scared of us. We want them to respect us and trust us, so we’re building that trust with them. And so a lot of our practices are built around strategies and experiences that they may experience in the matches. Ooh. So that’s re- Situational 

Coach Fergie: awareness.

Ali Denney: Absolutely. All that stuff, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Strategy, things that we’ve tried. We do a lot of intrinsic motivation at practice. We do real live film feedback at practice. So we dive really deep into that during, you practice a lot more than you play- … in college sports.

So practice is super purposeful every single time.

And that builds the trust in not only them, not only us, but in themselves. Gotcha. “Hey, you’ve experienced this. Remember this plus two game that we played? Remember this game that we played where- Yeah … there was this reward?” 

Coach Fergie: It’s like that cookie jar. It’s like you can, you keep on… or making deposits you can withdraw later.

Ali Denney: Exactly. 

Coach Fergie: Exactly. ‘Cause then all those reps that they’re putting in, that, that’s, [00:19:00] deposits. 

Ali Denney: Yes. 

Coach Fergie: And you’re just like, “Hey, remember that, deposit you made? Now it’s time to withdraw”- Exactly … kind of thing, right? 

Ali Denney: Exactly. And so a lot of them leave practice more mentally fatigued than physically fatigued because we’re making them think all the time of “Hey, how do you…

The goal is to get the ball to the corner.” I’m not gonna tell you how to do that- … ’cause there’s a thousand ways to do that. Sure. But you have to figure out how to do that. Then when we’re in a game, “Hey, this strategy works against this team’s defense. Let’s hit it to the corners.” And then they already have those reps.

They have that experience. 

Coach Fergie: Love it. And so let’s stay there b- Yeah … ’cause I think this applies, way beyond sports, ’cause you’re molding young women as well. And so how do you teach someone the difference between making an adjustment because something isn’t working and abandoning the plan because they’re uncomfortable?

Like- 

Ali Denney: Yeah … 

Coach Fergie: what is your kind of process with that? 

Ali Denney: Goes back to asking those questions, asking the tough questions and making sure that they’re figuring it out for themselves rather than us just telling them what to do. Because if you’re just told what to do, you can get yes’d to [00:20:00] death.

And you’re just like yep, yep, I got it, Coach.” But if you’re asking them, “What would you do in this situation? How do you think this would make this… What do you think would happen here?” And so then they really have to think about it. 

Steve Austin (Rize Mortgage, Show Sponsor): Yes. 

Ali Denney: And when they have to think about it, they draw more out of themselves.

And it is challenging, and we tell them, “Hey, we’re gonna, we’re gonna challenge you, but we’re zero judgment.” “We’re not gonna judge you if you’re wrong.” Quote, unquote. Yeah. You you might not even be wrong, but you have to try these things to gain experience. 

Coach Fergie: Yeah, and that’ll, that experience will level up into their regular life, too, ’cause- 100%

they’ll be wives, one day- Yeah … mothers and stuff like that. And what you’re teaching them, Ali, is it’s above reproach, with- within especially how you teach them with that. But- 

Ali Denney: Thank 

Coach Fergie: you … you, which… Can I talk about the mother? 

Ali Denney: Yeah, absolutely. 

Coach Fergie: Yeah, ’cause you’re expecting here- Yes … in a few, not few months, but, in a little bit.

Yeah. But you still compete yourself. 

Ali Denney: Yep. 

Coach Fergie: Right? While coaching full time. Yep. Does, continue to put yourself in situation where you can lose- Fail, get frustrated and feel pressure make you better coach? 

Ali Denney: [00:21:00] 1,000%. 

Coach Fergie: Does it keep… and also does that help you a little bit have some empathy towards your student athletes?

Ali Denney: Oh, yeah, 1,000%. We see… I, because I can tell them, “Hey, I’ve been there,”

“

Ali Denney: i’ve been in your shoes. I just experienced this summer.” I was in control in this situation, then I lost control because of something,” whatever it was. And so especially playing while pregnant, that’s been A really interesting- Yeah

experience. Then they can also trust that, that experience, whereas you get some coaches who never played at a high level. They just somehow got into coaching- 

Steve Austin (Rize Mortgage, Show Sponsor): Right … ‘

Ali Denney: cause they met the right person, or they were- Sure … at the right place at the right time. Yeah. And they never actually, they can’t coach through the experience.

So that’s also something that we really love is coaching through our experience- … rather than just, “Hey, do this ’cause the book said this.” Gotcha. And so we’ve coached with people like that, and we’re like, “Ah, I’ve experienced this moment.” “It, that’s not what’s gonna happen when you’re up 24-23 and it’s championship point, and you win.

You play to 25. You gotta win at 25- … win by two.” They [00:22:00] see that we have played. 

Coach Fergie: Yeah. 

Ali Denney: They see through our experience, and then that just, again, just continues to build the trust. Love it. And that’s just a huge difference maker. 

Coach Fergie: And 

Ali Denney: they see 

Coach Fergie: it. I mean- Yeah, they see it … and they come to you, and they, the situational, “Hey Coach Ally,” like this “What did you do here?”

Ali Denney: Exactly. 

Coach Fergie: They can learn from you. You can pass it onto them, but you’re not… I love that you’re not telling them what to do. Thank you. You’re letting them figure it out, right? Three or four rapid fire questions. 

Ali Denney: Sure. 

Coach Fergie: Only answer it five seconds. 

Ali Denney: Okay, got it. 

Coach Fergie: No explanation. So- 

Ali Denney: Got it … 

Coach Fergie: better feeling, winning as a player or winning as a coach?

Ali Denney: player. 

Coach Fergie: Okay. One quality you cannot coach into an athlete? 

Ali Denney: Attitude. 

Coach Fergie: All right. Harder to develop, physical toughness or mental toughness? 

Ali Denney: Mental toughness. 

Coach Fergie: Yeah. One trait an athlete can have that’ll make you think, “I want that girl on my team”? 

Ali Denney: Mindset. 

Coach Fergie: Okay. What’s more dangerous to performance, fear of failure or fear of disappointing other people?

Ali Denney: Fear of disappointing other people. 

Coach Fergie: Okay. So if you could coach Ally Denny, the college freshman, for five minutes, [00:23:00] what would you tell her? 

Ali Denney: Be a learner. 

Coach Fergie: Be a learner? 

Ali Denney: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: What else? I’ll let you expand on that one. 

Ali Denney: I was a little bit of a know-it-all. 

Coach Fergie: Okay. 

Ali Denney: I was a little bit of a know-it-all because I ha- I was really blessed to have high-level coaching in high school.

Coach Fergie: Yeah. 

Ali Denney: And because of that high-level coaching that I received in high school, I came into college and I made decisions of where to go in college based on things that didn’t really matter. Yeah. So had I known a little bit m- different things, I would have maybe chosen a different school where the coach could have taught me something a little bit different.

Sure. But I think being a little bit more of a learner is something that I’m learning now, and practicing every single day- … and just being being curious- Got it … being more curious about things. 

Coach Fergie: That’s my superpower in coaching, is curiosity. 

Ali Denney: Oh. 

Coach Fergie: They’re like, that’s- I’m 

Ali Denney: gonna learn from you.

Coach Fergie: Yeah, it’s just be curious. Just and just, the, the questions’ll come, because m- 90% of my coaching sessions are me asking them questions. 

Ali Denney: That’s awesome. 

Coach Fergie: And then they f- they figure it out, and then I’m very [00:24:00] militant on holding them accountable, right? 

Yes. So I don’t care what level in life they are.

They, I get fired a lot. Like- Yeah … I don’t wanna do it I’m just not the right, horse for your course. Absolutely. Which is 

Ali Denney: fine. 

Coach Fergie: Outside of volleyball- … and this is a quick one- Okay … what puts Ally Denny in her happy place? 

Ali Denney: Oh, going to the beach. 

Coach Fergie: All right. Yeah, we have them all over the place, right?

I 

Ali Denney: love them all over. I love going to the beach, 

Coach Fergie: yeah. I love it. And I have a canned question that I ask everybody, but how does Ally want her dash remembered? That little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life and death date. Hopefully it’s way down the line. 

Ali Denney: Yeah.

Coach Fergie: But how does Ally want her dash remembered? 

Ali Denney: Oh. Y- somebody who just let her light shine and made everybody’s day better. Yeah. I always wanna make everybody’s day better when I see them. 

Coach Fergie: Gotcha. And was it competitive in the Denny family? 

Ali Denney: No, surprisingly. Really? Yeah. We’re- 

Coach Fergie: When your dad surf jogs, your mom-

your mom runs s- me and your dad work out on Tuesday mornings, right? Yeah, 

Ali Denney: yeah. 

Coach Fergie: And we’re at the Heart Trail, and your mom’s just booking around past us. Oh, yeah. She goes, “Keep up.” And I’m like, “Dude.” But it wasn’t really- Yeah … that competitive, right? 

Ali Denney: Not super competitive within the [00:25:00] family.

We’re very supportive of each other. That’s 

Coach Fergie: awesome. 

Ali Denney: And the competition was outside rather than within, and my brother and I competed a little bit. Will say 

Coach Fergie: little big brother- 

Ali Denney: Yeah … ’cause 

Coach Fergie: he’s 

Ali Denney: 6’5″ or something like that He’s bigger, a lot bigger than me. But there was a little bit of competition between the two of us, but our sports are so different.

He’s way more into the board sports, water sports. Yeah, 

Coach Fergie: he’s really good at those, 

Ali Denney: too. Excellent. 

Coach Fergie: I see him. 

Ali Denney: Excellent at them. Yeah. And I got into the team sports a little bit more. Yeah. But being a better team player and learni- I would have learned how to be a better team player maybe, but we, we never did family board game night.

We’re not that kind of family. Gotcha. But they were super supportive of us growing up. Whatever we wanted to do, they were like, “Go try it. Let’s, we’ll be there.” Love it. 

Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: So the last 45 seconds- Sure … like, how can we find you if we’d like- 

Ali Denney: Yeah … 

Coach Fergie: to find you? 

Ali Denney: So my Instagram is al_denn, A-L_D-E-N-N.

And then I’m on Facebook, too, Ali Denny. And then if you go onto the New College website, it’s gomightybanyans.com. Love it. That’s the athlete websi- or the [00:26:00] athletics website for New College. You’ll find me there on the beach volleyball page. L- looking at you right 

Coach Fergie: now. 

Ali Denney: Yep, 

Coach Fergie: perfect. Love it. Rocking out the two of your players.

Thank you so much for coming on. This has just been amazing. And squad, have a great weekend. All those troops that are out there, stay the course. Love your guts, and 

be safe.