Kerri Walsh Jennings is a mother of 3, 38 years old, and a 3x Olympic Gold Medalist in Beach Volleyball.  While competing in the 2012 Olympic games in London, Walsh Jennings was about 5 weeks pregnant with her third child.

On being an athlete mama…

It’s the Hardest thing I’ve ever done in my lie, but it’s the most fun thing at the same time.

While watching an interview with Walsh-Jennings at the Olympics she said that she is doing what she set out to do:  Be an athlete, wife, and mama.

Walsh-Jennings says her children gave her life the perspective and balance she felt her life was missing. Being a world class athlete is a life of being extremely self centered and self focused and Becoming a mama took her game, desire, and passion for life to the next level.

It hasn’t been all peaches and cream….

Personal Issues

Walsh-Jennings and her husband a former beach volleyball player went through a rough patch in their marriage in part due to the demands of her career being at such a high level.  However thanks to personal development, therapy and growth their marriage survived.

Injuries

Walsh-Jennings suffered a dislocated shoulder which forced her to change up her training according to a 2015 article in Sports Illustrated:

“The first two weeks

[after the injury] I was focused on healing, then I started doing resistance against the wall, but not dynamic,” Jennings tells SI.com. “I have been working around things to get my core and legs stronger.”

She also added in an extra day of weights to keep her strength up.  Being on the road for tournaments it can be hard to find a gym so Walsh-Jennings doesn’t rely on gyms for workouts.  She plans Pilates which can be done anywhere and carries TRX straps which also can be done anyplace.

As we get older it’s crucial to continue strength training to protect our joints as well as to keep your strength up so that you’re strong enough to function in life.  The muscles of the Legs and Core are your FOUNDATION and what I like to call your power source so training these areas of your body is key to staying vital and strong.

Rio Results

The Rio Olympics did not end in a Gold Medal for Kerri Walsh Jennings and her partner April Ross but her reaction was nothing but pure class:

When she finished the match, she started running around the beach high-fiving people, thanking the fans like she does when she wins. She says that she focuses on the present because that is where her joy is.

She and her partner won the bronze medal and she is proud of her accomplishment

“There’s no shame in a bronze medal. I used to think that, and I’m so ashamed of thinking that because there’s so much joy and hard work and love in this. That’s my ego talking and that’s just ignorance to me,” she told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Thursday. “We won this, we didn’t lose. We won this. We lost our chance to win a gold, but we won this bronze medal.”

Definitely a winner in my book