Casey Jennings and Kerri Walsh Jennings have been married since 2005 and are both professional volleyball players. while walsh jennings is in rio, where she and april ross won bronze, jennings is taking care of her three children. Jennings has also found success internationally, but has not played in the Olympics.
Here’s a look at Jennings’ life and career.
1. her marriage hit a rough patch after beijing & amp; jennings went to rehab
in an interview with usa today before the olympics started, walsh jennings said that his greatest achievement was not on the beach, but in his family. After winning the gold medal in Beijing in 2008, her life was “falling apart” and she was beginning to feel disconnected from her husband.
“We lost that connection and I didn’t think we could get it back,” said Jennings, who started drinking alcohol at the time. Walsh Jennings then asked her to go to a rehab program, which she did. but he still wasn’t sure if they could save his marriage. he has already been divorced once. He was married to Hilary Clark from June 1999 to November 2000.
After seeing sports psychologist Michael Gervais, Walsh Jennings and Jennings repaired their marriage. It was a six-month process that “felt like six years,” he said.
“I knew he loved me, and I knew I loved him,” Walsh Jennings told USA. today. “talking to gervais, he says, ‘if one of you has the tip of your little toe inside, you have hope.’ i had my whole being inside, my husband still had the tip of his little toe (in), so that I had hope.”
2. Jennings & walsh jennings starred in an episode of ‘celebrity wife swapping’
last summer, walsh jennings didn’t prepare to play beach volleyball all the time. he was also preparing to swap spouses with basketball wives and real world star tami roman on celebrity wife swapping on abc.
while walsh jennings had to learn to live with former nfl player reggie roman, jennings had to live with roman. The two families didn’t really get along, with Walsh Jennings shocked by Reggie Roman’s unhealthy diet and Roman upset with Jennings’ three children.
3. played with april ross’s husband, bradley keinan & a tournament with phil dalhauser
During his career, Jennings has played with over 20 different partners. His most frequent partner was Matt Fuerbringer, with whom he played from 2003 to 2009 and again in 2013. Fuerbringer also played with Nick Lucena.
in 2013, jennings played a tournament with phil dalhausser in brazil and won silver. It’s the only time Jennings and Dalhausser played together in a tournament.
Jennings also played with Brad Keenan in 2010. Kenningan is now married to April Ross, Walsh Jennings’ partner at the Rio Olympics.
jennings has three avp awards. He won the Most Improved Player Award in 2002 and 2003 and took the Best Defensive Player Award in 2003. According to his Beach Volleyball Information Profile, he has won $673,688 in tournaments in his career.
4. his nickname for walsh jennings is ‘six foot sunshine’ & she had it inscribed on her wedding ring
walsh jennings has earned the nickname “six feet of sunshine” as he is over six feet tall (6’3″ to be exact). Jennings embraced that nickname, even having it engraved on her wedding band. during the beijing games, he almost lost it during the game. luckily it was returned.
the couple have three children – joseph, 5; sun dance, 4; and explorer, 15 months. Walsh Jennings was pregnant at Sundance while she was playing in London.
“We want our children to see us working, making an effort and chasing our dreams. They are very involved in what we do,” Walsh Jennings told People magazine in July. “They’re on our team, so we want them to know what we’re doing, and we’ve grown a lot as a family because of everything we do together.”
5. considers the national championships his best professional memories
In his avp profile, he lists his best professional memories such as his national championship victories in high school and college. He also helped Byu win the 1999 NCAA National Championship. In 2013, Jennings and Fuerbringer won the AVP Tour Manhattan Beach Open.
The Las Vegas native’s old byu profile says he came to college to “win a national championship,” a goal he achieved.
The closest Jennings came to making an Olympic team was in 2008 with Fuerbringer. They finished third at an FIVB event in Croatia that year, but only the top two made it to Beijing.