“Without your struggle, you don’t know your strengths.”
Ashley Preston, the head coach of women’s volleyball at California State University Fullerton sits down with us in this episode of the 35,000 Feet podcast and gives us insight into her journey as a volleyball coach. During our interview, Ashley talks about the importance of creating an empowering culture with her team, how she became a volleyball coach, and some of her favorite travel experiences, including a trip to Morocco!
In this episode, we discuss:
How this past season went for Ashley’s team (0:31)
How Coach Preston got into coaching (7:06)
Ashley’s favorite travel experience (13:13)
Ashley’s advice to athletes wanting to play in college (15:12)
One thing that no one knows about Ashley (16:53)
Ashley’s next adventure (17:48)
Recap of Cal State Fullerton Women’s Volleyball 2019 Season
Shianne: So you’ve just completed your fifth season. Can you kind of tell us about the highs and the lows of your last season and how it went?
Coach Ashley Preston: Sure. Actually, a high was, our team had four wins this past season in conference and one of those wins came at Long Beach State in the pyramid and it’s one of the first times and I think over a decade that Cal State Fullerton has won in the pyramid. So, that was pretty awesome. And they’re a rival too. So, that was really fun to see. As well as we took Hawaii to five in Hawaii. Unfortunately didn’t get the win, but it was great strides in the program as well. Our record, we had a winning non- conference record when we came in, so that was also a highlight too. And then also just last season was my favorite season since I’ve been here and it rooted within like just changing the culture of the program and I had a lot of personal growth as well as a coach and just really delving into my vision and my purpose.
What I've found out is the root of it isn't for me the wins and losses, it's the process and focusing on the route to get the best route. It's a Mike Smith quote. And so with that is really empowering young women. And so my vision is to create dope culture. I love creating culture and then my purpose is to help women be the heroes of their own story. And once I really figured that out in my personal growth as a coach here before the season started, I finally understood what I wanted to do and how I wanted Fullerton to be as a program.
And so I am just so happy about this past year, I can't talk enough about it because there's just the young women and my staff did somebody such amazing things. So yeah. Those are the highs. The lows were that we had a couple of injuries in the beginning of the year that could have impacted the rest of the year, but my team rallied behind the focus of the culture of it's about the team and not about individuals. And we were able to still continue to win. And so that really showed the maturity of them as well as young women.
Coach Ashley Preston’s Strategies for Empowerment
Coach Ashley Preston: There's one quote that I love and it says without your struggle, you don't know your strength. And that happened to me in the beginning of last year and then I really was like, okay, I have to make this change within myself, right? I can't be outcome oriented. And then tell the girls like focus on the process.
I have to believe everything that I project out of my mouth. Right. And so just taking those steps and reading a ton of books. And one of the most profound books for me was Brene Brown Dare to Lead. It really shifted everything for me in that and just separating emotions and facts and we do those lessons that she has in her book. I do that with my staff and then also my team leaders and also my whole team. And so to really see that come to fruition and then just having great people around me. Like Dr. Eden, she used to be the VP here at Cal State Fullerton. She's now the president at Queens College. She told me this all the time, like you're deserving and capable. And I didn't really understand what that meant until the last time she said it to me before she left. And like I started crying and I'm like, you're right, I'm deserving and capable.
And it's so funny. In a pivotal match, I told my players that like, you guys have to know you're deserving and capable. And those words mattered more to them than any strategy I could give them. And really seeing that and understanding now it's about just helping young women understand themselves, helps them to be better on the court. You know?
How Ashley Became a Volleyball Coach
Shianne: Can you kind of talk to us a little bit how you got into volleyball and how you got into being a coach?
Coach Ashley Preston: Yeah. So I actually am from Las Vegas, Nevada. So I was a basketball player at first and then my coach Robert Kelly, best man in the world, changed my life. I just happened to try out with a friend and I got on the JV team and then he bumped me up to varsity. I didn't play at all. I didn't even play at all in club. But they were such a good team. And so with that I was able to get a scholarship to Morgan State university, which is a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland. I played there for four years as a libero. It's got a funny cause at first I was supposed to go there as an outside and everybody was competing for the outside position. So I was like, hmm, this is a new thing. Let me be a libero. And I actually like hold records still as a libero.
From there I got my degree in communications and then I just happened to ask my coach like, hey can I stay? Cause at the time I had a college boyfriend, so that's why I wanted to stay in Maryland and not go back to Vegas.
So I was like can I be your GA? And she goes, no, I think you could be my assistant. So I became her full-time assistant and also went to graduate school at the same time. And so got my master's and publication design and then my coach just because I was such like I was her player, she thought it was time for me to go and find something else or find another program, you know, cause she's like, and so I went to Loyola, Maryland University for a year and learned a lot there. Completely different atmosphere, very affluent, rich, just wealthy and stuff because it's a Catholic Jesuit School. Great experience. And then from there I applied and got the head job at a division three school in Atlanta, Georgia, Spelman College. And I was actually the head coach and the sports information director. So it's kind of funny. I did my own stories after the game basically. But yeah.
So then from there, I got my first D1 head job at Coppin State University and we did a lot there too. They were just great young women. And I was just there at a time where they just wanted to work hard and change. And so it's so interesting because the culture just cultivated on its own. I didn't have to derive it or make it, it's just those young women just worked really hard and we did a lot of great things at Coppin.
Like, first time in history we made it to the MEAC championship and it was amazing to coach against my old head coach, you know, and stuff like that. And so playing against the team that I used to play for, probably my players, right. Telling my players like you can't let Morgan beat them was funny. And so, and then from there, yeah I got this job at Cal State Fullerton and I've been here for five years. It's been a rocky road up and down. But like I wouldn't trade any of the experiences that I've had for the world because it's gotten me to the place I am today.
Coach Ashley Preston’s Favorite Travel Experiences
Shianne: So how has travel kind of impacted you and maybe share some of your favorite experiences?
Coach Ashley Preston: Yeah, so my godmother, she never married. She travels all the time and she's traveled ever since I was little and I thought it was so amazing. Like once a year she would go on a trip and I don't know how many countries she's been to, but I feel like she's been every single one. And so in that when I started growing up and stuff and I, when I was able to financially get the money to be able to, I decided that too. Like I want to take trips and stuff. And so I've been to Morocco and that was one of my favorite trips as well as Barbados. So I just went to Barbados in 2019 so it's been fun. I haven't planned yet where I'll go this year, but traveling, just to be able to see a different culture is amazing to me.
Like for instance, Morocco is so much more educational. Of course, I love the trips to the beach, right? I get to lay on the beach and stuff like that. To learn more about a culture I had no idea about. And Morocco and Marrakesh and Rabat was really cool. Our tour guide was great. And how that factors into work is of course we travel for recruitment, but for non conference I try to take my players somewhere that they've never been to or just somewhere interesting.
So for instance, we've been to, since I've been here we've been to Brooklyn, New York, and a lot of the girls have never even been to New York. And so that was fun. Of course going to Times Square and I love Brooklyn. Some of my friends live out there. So that was fun to take them to. I'm also going to Las Vegas, Nevada because that's where I'm from. So the team got to eat at my house and my mom was so excited to do that. So this fall, we're going to Eastern Louisiana so that we can potentially go to New Orleans and stuff.
Because I want them to be exposed to all different parts of the country so that once they graduate with their degree, then pursuing a master's degree somewhere else won't seem so foreign. Because I've been fortunate enough in my career to be able to move everywhere and take the leap too you know?
Coach Ashley’s Advice to Athletes
Shianne: One question I have is if you're an athlete wanting to play for a team or a university, what would your advice be to them?
Coach Ashley Preston: The one thing that I ask players if you couldn't play anymore is that the school you'd like to go to? I think that's very important. You can't do it just for volleyball because there are times where you may get injured, right, and heaven forbid you may have a career-ending injury. Is that the school that you really want to go to and focus on five schools that you really want to go to and then let volleyball be the second tier thing of it just because you'll enjoy it more. It can't just be about volleyball, like you are a well-rounded person.
For a lot of young women for years, that's the only time you're going to get for volleyball. So really love the school and embrace the school. And one of the things that I have my students do in the spring, they have to be a part of at least one club across campus. Just so that you can build more friendships, you know, and something else keeps you here other than volleyball. Because what if you're not playing at all or you're not traveling and stuff like that. Will you still want to go to that university? I think that's really important.
Shianne: Yeah. And I think that's great advice. I love that. Especially I like that you make your players kind of branch out of the normal athletics of just being on your volleyball team and getting into the other clubs of the university. I love that. I haven't really heard of anybody doing that. So that's awesome.
Coach Ashley Preston: It also helps with your resume, you know, and stuff like that. Yeah.
A Lesser-Known Fact About Coach Ashley Preston
Shianne: What is the one thing that no one knows about you that you can share with us?
Coach Ashley Preston: I am obsessed with buffalo chicken sauce. Like if I can get a bu buffalo chicken anything, I'm in a happy place. So yes, I could eat Buffalo chicken wings and it actually, what's so funny is Hooters Buffalo chicken wings are my favorite chicken wings. Nobody knows that about me. Hooters buffalo chicken wings are my favorite.
So the way they do it, they fry it first and then put the sauce. So it's like that's how my mom used to make them, you know, so it reminds me of that. Yeah. But you have to get them right when they come out because you can't order Uber eats with them. They'll get too soggy and then it just ruins it.
Coach Ashley Preston’s Next Adventures and What’s Next for Cal Sate Fullerton Volleyball
Shianne: So kind of the last question to wrap everything up, what's your next adventure, whether it's with your team, like what are you most excited about for this upcoming season, your personal life? Is there any travel destinations you're going to? What's up next?
Coach Ashley Preston: I have two options right now I'm just trying to figure out what's most feasible. So my sister will actually be in Italy for a short study abroad trip with her master's program. So she's going there for two weeks. So she was like, you could come the second week. And my sister and I are super close, so I think that would be awesome. Or Belize with one of my friends who's actually graduating.
Shianne: Wow
Ashley: Right, two totally different trips right? And so I'm trying to figure out which one. Like what more do I want to do? Do I want to do like the food and wine and different things like that or more of the beachy type stuff like that. So that's what I'm trying to figure out next. Yeah.
Shianne: That's awesome. And what about your upcoming season? I know you're still a couple months away, the season doesn't really start till August, but what are you most excited for, for your season?
Ashley: I'm just most excited to just build on the success we had from this past year and just the growth of my players. Some of these players, my goodness, I can't even believe that they're going to be seniors you know?
And so I see the sophomores as a junior, come into their own and really seeing the seniors shine. I can't wait for that because they've been with me through the long haul of like a shift and a change of a program and a culture. So I'm just excited about that. I really, you know, process wise, right? I know my outcome, I know what I want to do, but I'm also just enjoying the ride and enjoying the journey, you know?
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Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle