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After five trips to the Olympics,Kerri Walsh Jenningsis still hungry for more.
The volleyball star, 40, tells PEOPLE that she is “working my tushie off” to train daily for the 2020Summer Olympicsin Tokyo.
As Walsh Jennings focuses on Tokyo, she is also thinking about giving back. She is working withDICK’s Sporting GoodstopromoteitsSports Mattercampaign, which supports youth teams to make sure that kids have access to athletics.
Walsh Jennings went to the Olympics for the first time in 2000, according toTeam USA’s website. She then scored gold medals at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 games withMisty May-Treanor, and in 2016, she and April Ross took home the bronze.
Her2016 experience in Rio de Janeirofuels her desire to make it to Tokyo, Walsh Jennings says.
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Returning to the Olympics would put her bronze in a new light. “This road in Tokyo and all the personal growth that will happen, and all the hard work and the lessons that I’ll learn — it will make that bronze in Rio so worth it,” she reflects. “It already is worth it.”
“Whereas before I lived and breathed and died on my performance and practice or competition, now I have a balanced life,” she says. She shares sonsJoseph Michael, 9, andSundance Thomas, 8, and daughterScout Margery, 5, with her husband, fellow athleteCasey Jennings.
“So I’m still laser-focused on being the best I can be and on winning, but I alsohave some balance in my lifewhere that’s not the end-all-be-all,” Walsh Jennings continues. “So if I have a tough day, I have something else to look to and to fill me up.”
Just as she gets balance from her family, her kidsget athleticism from their parents.
“Whatever’s in season is what they’re playing,” she says. “But they’re also into music. We really want them to be well-rounded kids. Just because my husband and I are pro athletes, we don’t necessarily want to push them down that road.”
source: people.com
