Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings: ‘Perfection Isn’t Even in the Cards’

Every Olympic athlete dreams of winning a gold medal. Pro beach volleyball champion Kerri Walsh Jennings, 37, has won three and hopes to win another if her recently dislocated shoulder heals in time and she qualifies for the 2016 Olympic games in Rio in 2016.

As she continues her training and revs up for the holidays, this mom of three talked to Parade about brainwork, cooking and her favorite secret ingredient.

You dislocated your shoulder in May and again in July. How is your rehab going?

Amazing. I’m ahead of schedule, but not too far ahead of schedule. It’s off-season right now, so I wouldn’t be playing volleyball anyway. So right now I’m just focusing on getting my shoulder and all the supporting muscles and structures really strong. And I’m also working on my body from the inside out. I’m putting myself in the best position possible to kick butt next year.

You said you’re doing brainwork as part of your training. Tell us about that.

It’s so fun. I mean, that’s the next frontier. Basically I do a program called Versus, and it basically trains my brain like it’s a muscle. I’m working on my neuro-agility, my focus endurance—all these things that are really vital to winning a gold medal—and truly just living a better, more balanced, grounded life. It’s a labor of love. It’s really frustrating, it’s really fun though and I’m definitely seeing results.

It’s the holidays so everyone is thinking about cooking and eating. Do you like to cook?

I’m an aspiring cook. And I’m getting better everyday. We’re building a new home and my kitchen is like the most inspirational part of the whole thing. I’m addicted to good food.

In my 20s, I definitely ate as clean as possible, but now that I’m a little older, now that I’m a mom, I want to be the best role model possible. My husband, [fellow pro beach-volleyball player Casey Jennings] and I are the king and queen of ordering in and takeout and we try to be as healthy as possible, but you know, when you cook your own food, you know what’s going in there, so that’s what I started to do.

You can’t eat perfectly all the time. What is your favorite treat?

A Frappuccino Light from Starbucks. That is my most favorite thing ever. It’s nice and rich. But I’m a chocolate and hazelnut girl. Chocolate is one of my best friends, for sure.

You’ve said honey is your secret ingredient.

My whole life I’ve loved honey. Growing up, we’d go to farmer’s markets and I’ve always enjoyed trying different things. But it was right before [the 2012 London Olympics] when I was talking to my sports psychologist, telling him that sometimes in a match I would lose my focus. And he said, you should just bring honey sticks or eat a tablespoon of honey.

For me, it really helps my mind to refocus and gives me that boost of energy so I can power through. We bring honey sticks, water and orange slices to our kids’ soccer games and everyone loves it.

When I cook with honey it makes me seem like a really good cook, which I’m not yet. It’s such a great flavor in a sauce or for baking. There are so many uses for it. I look for honey in beauty products and we use it as a natural cough suppressant.

What do you think people would find surprising about you?

That’s such a hard question for me because I feel like I’m such an open book. I think it’s the imperfect nature of everything. We all strive for excellence; we all strive for greatness. But that’s a far cry from perfection and that’s not even something I strive for anymore.

I want to be better than I was an hour ago. I want to be better than I was yesterday, and just keep going in an upward and forward trajectory. Perfection isn’t even in the cards.

I’m comfortable being imperfect in my sport and as a mommy. You can’t hold yourself to those standards. You’ll crush yourself. Not being perfect makes the journey more fun.