Denise Johns (born 9 December 1978) is a professional

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of th ...

player. She was born in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, grew up in the US, but competes for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

Early life

Johns was born on 9 December 1978 in

Ettelbruck Ettelbruck ( lb, Ettelbréck , german: Ettelbrück ) is a commune with town status in central Luxembourg, with a population of inhabitants. History Until 1850, both Erpeldange and Schieren were part of the Ettelbruck commune as well, but both ...

.
Her father Martin Johns is English, and she has one sister. Her family moved from Luxembourg to

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

when she was 4 years old. She grew up in

Copley, Ohio Copley is an unincorporated community in Summit County, in the U.S. state of Ohio. History Variant names were Greenfield and Copley Center. The first settlement at Copley Center was made around 1819. The community was named for its location nea ...

, and started playing volleyball at the age of 10. She attended Copley High School, where she excelled at swimming, track and volleyball."Copley grad enjoying professional volleyball in Great Britain"
Akron Ohio News (18 December 2008). She obtained a bachelor's degree in architecture from

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

, where she concentrated on rowing rather than volleyball. She graduated in 2002, and moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, playing amateur beach volleyball on the east coast of America. After success in those tournaments she moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, California where she played on the AVP tour for four years.

Career

She started playing on the AVPTour in 2003, and with Jenelle Koester, won the 2003 AVPNext National Championships. In 2005, she and Alicia Polzin defeated both the second and third ranked teams on the tour in the same tournament. She has competed in 42 AVP tournaments, 6 FIVB tournaments, and 22 various other tournaments. She was ranked 12th on the AVP after 2006. She obtained first place in the Weymouth Classic in 2006, 4th place in the

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

FIVB Challenge in 2005, 2nd place in Mexico in 2005, and 1st place at the AVP Next Championships in 2003. Her current volleyball team partner is Lucy Boulton. She currently trains at the UK volleyball HQ at

TeamBath TeamBath is the University of Bath's sporting organisation. In addition to entering teams in BUCS intervarsity competitions, TeamBath has also entered teams in national leagues and competitions. Team Bath F.C. reached the first round proper of t ...

at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, UK. Denise has volunteered for Premiership 4 Sport, coached for the Volleyball England initiative and is also an ambassador for Go Spike

Personal life

Johns lives in a 175-year-old cottage in

Midsomer Norton Midsomer Norton is a town near the Mendip Hills in Bath and North East Somerset, England, south-west of Bath, Somerset, Bath, north-east of Wells, Somerset, Wells, north-west of Frome, west of Trowbridge and south-east of Bristol. It has ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, with her husband, Jody Gooding, also a member of the

team. She still does some work as an architect in addition to her volleyball. Johns and Gooding were married on 4 September 2011 in a ceremony held on the beach in Folly Beach, South Carolina.Hubbard, Alan. (4 September 2011
Inside Lines: Big brother Vitali puts his title at risk in political punch-up – Others – More Sports
The Independent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Denise 1978 births Living people English women's beach volleyball players University of Cincinnati alumni American architects People from Copley, Ohio Team Bath athletes American emigrants to England Luxembourgian emigrants to the United States Women's beach volleyball players Luxembourgian people of English descent American people of English descent Luxembourgian emigrants to the United Kingdom People from Ettelbruck