Olympic Volleyball Star Kerri Walsh Jennings Reveals What Empowers Her

When you think of beach volleyball, whose image leaps (or spikes!) to mind? If we were the betting kind, we’d wager you thought of Kerri Walsh Jennings. The five-time Olympian — and most decorated beach volleyball player in the history of the sport — earned gold in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics with her partner Misty May-Treanor, and bronze in the 2016 Olympics with partner April Ross. We sat down with the legend to talk about everything from motherhood to gratitude to why she says she’s just "average” — and how a DNA test changed the way she sees her biggest achievements.

FIRST for Women: You teamed with Ancestry for their new test of 30 AncestryDNA? performance traits. Your results suggest you prefer team sports and are likely to be able to jump high. Check and check! But it also shows you’re less likely to be determined. Did that surprise you?

I think I read somewhere — I think it’s Angela Duckworth whose research shows — that grit is the number one predictor of your success rate because you have to endure and outlast. But it’s not just physically — I think most people, when they think of athletes, they think of physicality. What I now know is that the work is largely mental and emotional. Like a ridiculous percentage is mental and emotional. Because everything is tied to your nervous system, so if your nervous system is in a calm place where it’s not agitated all the time, you can respond and you can choose to be gritty and resilient and persistent.

It's so interesting because I've been told my whole life, ‘Oh, you're just tall, so you're good.’ Or ‘You were just born flexible, so you’re good.’ And so now I can go back and say, ‘Well, actually, these DNA results show I'm not likely to be flexible or persistent. When if you were to ask me, I would have said both these traits were in my DNA! I am persistent. I am self-disciplined. I am flexible. Yet the results came back 'less likely.'

I thought I was born this way, and I just have so much reverence for my heritage; I'm so appreciative. But what became clear to me with my [DNA] analysis is that nurture is obviously a huge part of our makeup. And if we’re mindful of our environment, we can become who we want to become with training. Our traits are there, and they serve a very big purpose. But training to me is really, really important — and that was one of my biggest takeaways.

FFW: What has this experience shown you about your resilience? I would be so proud of myself if I 'overcame' certain traits and succeeded!

Well, you know, I think that's exactly it. I just think we as humans are so incredible. And we have so much potential within us. I feel like our DNA is the starting point, and then we get to choose. Life kind of channels us down these paths and [the talents] we're going to develop or not. I just feel so blessed that my career as a pro athlete, chasing the world's best, really helped me focus on myself and develop the traits of a champion. I love the fact that I have beautiful, powerful traits. I also have very average traits. But, above all, I can train myself. That makes me really proud because one of my favorite things to do is empower everyone to live their best lives.

FFW: It sounds like you discovered that success is a marriage between our inborn traits and our determination — that we we have more control than we may have thought?

A lot of people kind of point to their DNA, like, ‘Well, [my success] is genetic.' But we have to acknowledge that this is just the starting point. For me, that's the most empowering conversation: Go see what you're made of, and then choose who you want to be.

FFW: What's the biggest life lesson you learned from the Olympics?

I think the obvious setbacks go back to the physicality of being an athlete, and then there’s also the mental and emotional journey. The physical stuff was the easy part, even though, if you were to tell me by the end of my career, I would have had six shoulder surgeries, dislocated my shoulder in action four times and almost lost my marriage… lots of life happened. If I had a preview of these things, I might not have chosen it.

The lesson there is that life is challenging, but it all serves you, if you choose to see it that way. For me, my favorite part of becoming a five-time Olympian… is just all about the ‘becoming,' because you have to become the person who is courageous and who chooses to be resilient and persistent. It doesn't just happen — you don't fall on top of the mountain. The destination is literally just the excuse to go on the journey.

FFW: That’s very poetic. What role does spirituality play in your life?

I'm such a believer in body, mind and spirit. The intangible is such a big part of our lives. How do you talk about the spirit that's within you, and how do you express it? And how do you speak to these things that you can't necessarily see and touch and feel? I talk to God every day. I feel like I'm made of God, and I like framing it that way because I feel like it's my honor and my duty to get the best out of everything I've been blessed with.

FFW: You’re clearly have such a positive outlook! Can you talk about a few of your goals moving forward?

I really do want to live an inspired and empowered life because one of my greatest joys is to inspire and empower others. And if I'm not living that, then I'll be a fraud, and I never want to be a fraud. One of my goals is just to embody my beliefs, because words fall short, and people are more affected by what you do than what you say. Certainly, as a mother of three children — who I pray every day live their best life — I know I need to embody that which I want to be, and that changes and shifts as I get older and my priorities shift... I don't want to settle for less, and even though I just retired, I don't believe in regression; I don't believe the best is behind me.

FFW: You talk about being a role model for your kids — how has motherhood inspired you?

[Being a mom] is just the best part of all of it — times a million. There are two distinct sides of me that are obviously so integrated… There’s the warrior part of me; I'm willing to go through fire [to achieve my goals] because I believe that there is more in me and I'm curious about exploring that side of myself. And then there's the nurturing lioness that my kids brought out in me that really holds me so accountable.

FFW: What is the most important piece of advice you’d like to share with women?

I feel like we're here to be who we are meant to be. And I really encourage all women to daydream about their favorite self and their ideal self. What does that look like, and what does that feel like? What's in your way? Kind of do an ‘audit,’ like a vision board daydream, and go live it. Practice being that human, that fully expressed person.

We cannot hate ourselves and not give ourselves grace, because our job is to love ourselves. At the same time, it's not a weakness to acknowledge that we have a lot of room for potential and a lot of space to grow. We can choose to consciously nurture so many different parts of ourselves because we're meant to grow throughout all of it.

For more empowering stories of Olympians:

Olympic Cyclist Mari Holden Reveals How Taking a Risk Changed Her Life — And Career (Exclusive)

Olympic Hero Jackie Joyner-Kersee on How a DNA Test Showed Her the Traits of a Champion (Exclusive)

Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres Reveals How She Defied Expectations To Win Silver at 41 (Exclusive)