Walsh Jennings pushes onward
Olympics remain in sight despite upcoming surgery
Blame it on Rio. Beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings is dealing with another injury as she tries to qualify for her fifth Olympics.
Walsh Jennings, who turned 37 last week, is used to it by now. The three-time gold medalist has undergone surgeries before every Olympics except Athens (2004).
“When you hold something so dear in your life, the dark side tries to get in your way,” Walsh Jennings said last week. “It’s up to you to keep pushing through and battling.”
She will be digging deep at the World Series of Beach Volleyball that runs Wednesday through Sunday in Long Beach. Walsh Jennings and partner April Ross are among 128 of the world’s best players competing in the final U.S.-based qualifier for the 2016 Rio Games.
It will be the team’s first appearance since July 10 when Walsh Jennings dislocated her right shoulder for the second time in six weeks.
The former Archb ishop Mitty High and Stanford star spent the past month focused on recovery so she and Ross could at least enter the next three Olympic qualifying tournaments.
They must compete in 12 events by June 12, 2016 to have a chance at making the Olympic team. They hope to end the year with seven tournaments, including this week and the following weeks in Poland and Brazil.
After that, Walsh Jennings probably is facing surgery, which is what happened before the previous two Olympics.
“I have a best-case scenario for a terrible situation,” she said of having enough time to qualify for the Olympics.
Walsh Jennings won three consecutive Olympic titles with Misty May-Treanor, who retired after the London Games. After the greatest pairing in beach volleyball history ended, Walsh Jennings turned to Ross, who won a silver medal in 2012.
They currently are ranked 30th on the world tour, but are expected to be one of the Olympic favorites if healthy.
The expectations partially led to Walsh Jennings’ funk after the shoulder went out during a tournament in Switzerland.
“Initially I was afraid,” the mother of three said. “I was afraid my journey to Rio was in jeopardy, that I put April in a bad spot.”
Then Walsh Jennings did what she always does.
“I started getting to work,” she said. “Action always beats out fear.”
The Olympian who also broke her ankle before the 2000 Olympics when she played indoor volleyball has not been in much pain throughout the latest ordeal.
But it was nonetheless scary while lying on the sand court in Gstaad, Switzerland, looking at her shoulder.
“You look down and there is a huge divot in your arm where the shoulder should be,” Walsh Jennings recalled. “It touches something primal in you — I’m in trouble. And once it goes (back) in the relief is immediate.”
The anxiety over the coming year, though, is palatable.
Walsh Jennings, who lives in an L.A. beach town now, takes a spiritual approach to such matters. She needed to experience fear and self doubt before returning to the sand.
“My shoulder is one little part of me,” Walsh Jennings said. “I’m 6-foot-2 plus of body that knows how to play volleyball. I’m going to assert myself out there no matter what I have. It will be different, but it doesn’t have to be diminished.”
When healthy, she and Ross are one of the world’s most powerful teams. Now they need to rely on finesse shots and defense.
Walsh Jennings might spend more time developing a left-handed shot with the right shoulder headed for surgery No. 5.
“I’m so sick of talking about it,” Walsh Jennings said. “I just want to shut up and put up basically.”