Casey Jennings got some laughs while introducing his wife for her induction into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame.
Jennings, a pretty accomplished beach volleyball player himself, joked that he figured the invitation was for him, because unlike Kerri, he’s retired.
She’s not.
Mostly.
“We’ll see,” Kerri Walsh Jennings said after she and five others were inducted into the IVHOF in Holyoke, Massachusetts, October 22. “It’s literally a huge question mark but we’re definitely leaning toward we would like to do it again. We would like to make a run. There’s some dissatisfaction in my heart. There’s just a big calling in my heart and I’ve always followed that.”
Walsh, the five-time Olympian who won gold three times on the beach with Misty May-Treanor (2004, ’08, ’12) and bronze with April Ross in 2016, went into the hall with Brazilian legendary player and coach Bernardinho, Brazilian indoors great Fernanda Venturini, Dutch icon Peter Murphy and Dutch Paravolley leader Pietr Joon.
Had there not been the pandemic, Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat likely would have made the Tokyo Olympics. But after the Games were postponed to 2021, it gave the opportunity for Kelly Claes (now Cheng) and Sarah Sponcil to pass them up for the second USA spot. The other American pair, Ross and Alix Klineman, won the gold medal.
Walsh, who turned 44 in August, hasn’t played competitively since June 2021. Nor does she have a partner.
What’s more, she moved from beach volleyball hotbed of Manhattan Beach to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where she said she’s been to a beach court with all her volleyballs and hitting them on her own.
“But I haven’t played in a long time.”
So how does a five-time Olympian (she played indoors in 2000) choose a new partner?
“There are definitely girls — a girl — on my radar, but I won’t mention her name.”
Walsh Jennings said the plan will be train with her coach, Arthur Carvalho, and then bring in potential partners.
“I’d love to meet them. The young girls, I don’t know them,” Walsh Jennings admitted. “Even Sarah Sponcil, she was on the tour for a couple of years before I took a timeout. I don’t know what their appetite is, I don’t know what my appetite is, but energy is so important to me. And fire and all that stuff.”
One reason she might not know many of the younger players is…
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