Olympic beach volleyball legend Kerri Walsh Jennings remains fiercely involved in her community and the sport she loves.
Kerri Walsh Jenning's wardrobe by Wilkes Bashford, wilkesbashford.com; makeup by Miranda Marie, hair by Janeen Silvestri Andrighetto, Halo Blow Dry Bars, haloblowdrybar.com
When Kerri Walsh Jennings (@kerrileewalsh) was one of five kids growing up in Scotts Valley, Saratoga and Los Gatos Hills, she wasn’t allowed in the house. “My parents told us to get outside, be in nature, be weird and play. Redwoods surrounded us. We climbed trees. We had forts. It was the most beautiful upbringing. The entire valley was our big backyard and playground. I was so free and safe,” says the four-time Olympic medalist in beach volleyball, who speaks to me via Zoom from her current home in Lake Tahoe. She wears a fleece pullover and a beanie, her familiar golden locks spilling out perfectly.
After settling in Tahoe during COVID with her husband, volleyballer Casey Jennings, and three children, the family is moving back to the Bay Area. “My extended family is still in the Bay Area, and my oldest will be a freshman next year, with our second child following a year after that,” Walsh Jennings explains. “We want them to have the same opportunities in school and sports that I had. We become products of our environment.”
The volleyballer attended Archbishop Mitty and hopes her kids, who are also athletes, will follow next year. She’s also moving her family back to the Bay Area for other reasons: “I hope my kids have those eyes where they see everything as an opportunity to play. I want them to see a tree they want to climb or simply sit under one and read a book.”
Kerri Walsh Jennings poses on the beach volleyball courts at Stanford, where she attended and played indoor volleyball.
Venture to YouTube and watch the 6-foot, 3-inch Jennings Walsh’s Olympic exploits in Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008 or London in 2012, where she paired with Misty May-Treanor for one of the most staggering winning streaks in the history of any sport: 21 consecutive set wins in 2004 and 2008. Throughout these intense matches, one thing stands out: Jennings Walsh was having a blast. “People think I was incredibly intense, scary and mad,” she says. “But I was having fun. It’s such a joy to play.”
The concept of unstructured play seems foreign to many children in 2024. Play dates, organized events and travel sports team mark their days. Walsh Jennings worries kids are missing out on the same freedom of movement and joy she had growing up. “I think being playful in sport is a lost art,” she says.
That’s one of the reasons she recently launched the nonprofit p1440 (p1440.org), which unites, empowers and inspires children through the transformative sport of beach volleyball. The organization is now in over 30 states, and it reflects Walsh Jennings’ philosophy of finding joy in each day’s 1440 minutes. “I want to give kids more access to my sport, which helped me find my voice and power. My parents signed me up to be a ball girl for Stanford’s indoor volleyball matches when I was 11, and the experience changed my life,” says Walsh Jennings, who later played at Stanford after receiving a scholarship.
With p1440, which passes along scholarships to aspiring volleyballers, Walsh Jennings says she wants to expand the game by creating more opportunities for children to grow. As part of the organization, she created a Fab 50 program, bringing together the top beach volleyball players in the country for three days of training. “We train them on the court, but we also train them in breathwork and their mindset. The most beautiful thing is that they come together as a community where they don’t feel alone. I love supporting these kids and creating a little structure while giving a lot of encouragement.”
One of the precepts of p1440 is positive coaching since one lousy influence can ruin a child’s experience with a sport for life. “Even though the sport is playful, we can’t be casual about it. Coaching is too important,” says Walsh Jennings. “Amazing coaches guide young people to a point where they don’t hate themselves because you’re not great at the start. They give themselves the grace to get better.”
Walsh Jennings recently launched the p1440, which unites, empowers and inspires children through the sport of beach volleyball.
Before p1440’s launch, Walsh Jenning’s foundation supported organizations like the Boys and Girls Club (bgclub.org) and Ronald McDonald House (rmhc.org). She also credits Bay Area charitable titans like Larry Harper of the Good Tidings Foundation (goodtidings.org) for providing leadership for others to follow. “Larry and his family have blown my mind with how they’ve helped different regional organizations, including building volleyball courts,” she says.
Anyone who witnessed the University of Nebraska women’s volleyball team’s feat last year—filling the football stadium with over 92,000 fans, breaking a world record—knows the sport is on the rise. Walsh Jennings is betting on it. She recently bought and named a team, the San Diego Mojo (@sandiegomojovb), in the new indoor volleyball league known as the Pro Volleyball Federation (provolleyball.com), which is wrapping its inaugural season. There are 10 teams in markets nationwide, including Dallas, Atlanta, Kansas City and Omaha, which sells out nearly every game.
“These players are incredible,” says Walsh Jennings, who explains that most women volleyballers ventured to Europe after college to earn a living professionally playing the sport. “The new league allows players to stay home and play in front of fans who know them from their college exploits. As we develop this exciting platform, they’re pursuing their professional sports dreams.” Bay Area native Ronica Stone (@ronicastone), a standout volleyballer at the University of Oregon and girlfriend of NFL superstar Jordan Love, plays for the Mojo. “He supports her at every game,” she says. “It’s like a fairy tale.”
Walsh Jennings is in the zone now. Her voice rises, and her sentences come quickly like power serves. “Our sport is growing like gangbusters, and I love that people aren’t afraid of having a big vision,” she says. “Everything is falling into place. But you know what? The athletes and the next generation aren’t content. Nor am I. So the time is now—especially with the elevation of women’s sports—to do something great and lasting.”
Whatever happens, Walsh Jennings will be in the mix, changing the state of play.
Photography by: Tracy Easton; Styled by Hope Patricia Daly
