Kerri Walsh

Beach Volleyball player infobox


caption = Kerri Walsh in 2007.
fullname= Kerri Lee Walsh
nickname= Six Feet of Sunshinecite news
accessdate=2008-08-21 |url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/beachvolleyball/news/newsid=241310.html#sand+supremacy+misty+kerri+defend+title
title=Sand supremacy: Misty, Kerri defend title
author=Associated Press |date=August 20, 2008]
nationality=flag|United States
dateofbirth= birth date and age|mf=yes|1978|08|15
cityofbirth= Santa Clara, CA
countryofbirth= USA
dateofdeath=
cityofdeath=
countryofdeath=
hometown= San Jose, CA
homecountry= USA
height= height|ft=6|in=3
weight=
currentteammate= Misty May-Treanor
currentyears=2001-present
currenttours (currentpoints)=
years=
teammates=
tours (points)=
resultyears=
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Kerri Lee Walsh (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional beach volleyball player.

Walsh and teammate, Misty May-Treanor, were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. They have been called "the greatest beach volleyball team of all time". [http://www.nbcolympics.com/beachvolleyball/news/newsid=242746.html]

Early years

Kerri Lee Walsh was born in Santa Clara, California and grew up in Saratoga, California.cite web|accessdate=2008-08-13
url=http://volleyball.teamusa.org/athlete/athlete/1037
title=Athletes: Kerri Walsh
publisher=USA Volleyball]

High school

As a high school student, Walsh played indoor volleyball at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California. She graduated in 1996.

In high school competition, she played against her current partner, Misty May-Treanor.cite news|accessdate=2008-08-13
url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=3521765&type=story
date=August 6, 2008
title=Top U.S. athletes to watch at Beijing Games
publisher=ESPN]

College

Walsh continued on to Stanford University, where she won national titles in 1996 and 1997 and was a four-year first-team All-American,cite news
accessdate=
url=http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/121599aaa.html
title=Walsh and Tom earn First Team AVCA All-America honors
date=December 15, 1999
publisher=Stanford.com] Final Four MVP in 1996cite news|accessdate=
url=http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/archive/9798spec-rel/stan-w-volley-spec-rel1221.html
title=Top seeded Stanford beats Hawaii
date=December 21, 1996
publisher=Stanford.com] and co-National Player of the Year in 1999.cite news|accessdate=
url=http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/121799aaa.html
title=Kerri Walsh named National co-Player of the Year
date=December 17, 1999
publisher=Stanford.com] She graduated from Stanford in 2000 with a B.A. in American Studies.cite web|accessdate=
url=http://www.qcvolleyball.org/asktheexperts.html
title=Ask the experts
publisher=QC Volleyball] Played against her teamate (Misty May) in college

Professional career

Kerri Walsh plays professional beach volleyball on the U.S. AVP Tour and internationally on the FIVB World Tour.

On July 23, 2006, Walsh topped $1 million in career earnings.cite news|accessdate=
url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AT&p_theme=at&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=112C2DD4627B6480&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
title=Volleyball enriches a few as popularity spikes
date=July 9, 2006
work=Atlanta Journal-Constitution
page=B2]

Olympics

ydney 2000

Walsh played in the 2000 Summer Olympics on the U.S. women's indoor team, earning a fourth-place finish.

She missed several of her first games due to a false positive on a drug test, which indicated a suspicious epitestosterone to testosterone ratio. After being retested, Walsh was cleared of any wrongdoing and allowed to continue playing.cite web|accessdate=
url=http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2004/julaug/features/olympians.html
title=On to Athens
work=STANFORD Magazing
date=July/August 2004
author=Eule, Brian]

Athens 2004

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Walsh and Misty May won the gold medal in women's beach volleyball without losing a game.

Beijing 2008

On August 21, Walsh and May-Treanor repeated as Olympic gold medalists, defeating the first-seeded Chinese team in the final match.cite web|accessdate=2008-08-21
url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/beachvolleyball/resultsandschedules/gender=W/index.html
title=Beach volleyball Schedule and results
work=NBC Olympics] Although, May-Treanor and Walsh deserved to be the #1 seeded team, the home rule put them in the #2 spot with China as the #1. May-Treanor and Walsh did not lose a single set in either of the past two Olympics. Their final match extended their unbeaten streak to 108 matches. They are the only beach volleyball team to successfully defend their Olympic title.Overall walsh and partner may-treonor eaned 21 gold medals

Personal life

She is the daughter of Tim and Margie Walsh. Walsh's father, who is six feet, eight inches in height, played minor league baseball with the Oakland A's organization, as well as semi-pro basketball. Her mother was a volleyball MVP at Santa Clara University. Walsh has an older brother, Marte, and two younger sisters, Kelli and KC.cite web|accessdate=2008-08-13
url=http://volleyball.teamusa.org/athlete/athlete/1037
title=Athletes: Kerri Walsh
pubisher=USA Volleyball]

Walsh met her husband, Casey Jennings, in 2000 on the day Misty May-Treanor "auditioned" Walsh as her new partner. They were married on December 4, 2005 in Palm Springs, California.cite web|accessdate=
url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1139126,00.html
title=Olympic Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh Marries
author=Keith, Amy
date=December 8, 2005
work=People]

Walsh currently resides in Hermosa Beach, California. [http://www.bvbinfo.com/Player.asp?ID=1923 Kerri Walsh - Profile] , Beach Volleyball Database]

TV, film and radio appearances

Walsh has appeared in several television commercials, and has been a guest on a number of popular talk shows as a result.Fact|date=July 2008 In February 2006, Walsh had a guest-starring role in an episode of "" along with several other AVP Volleyball players. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1976997/ IMDB Filmography] ]

Walsh hosts a weekly, one-hour radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio's Faction 28 station. It airs every Sunday morning at 9 AM Eastern time.

Kerri Walsh appeared in the Game Show Network television show Extreme Dodgeball. She was a member of the Detroit Spoilers, who lost all ten games they played.

Awards and honors

* AVP Best Offensive Player 2003
* AVP Crocs Cup Champion 2006 (Misty May-Treanor), 2007 (Misty May-Treanor)
* AVP Most Valuable Player 2003, 2004
* AVP Team of the Year 2003 (Misty May-Treanor), 2004 (Misty May-Treanor), 2005 (Misty May-Treanor), 2006 (Misty May-Treanor), 2007 (Misty May-Treanor)
* FIVB Best Blocker 2005, 2006, 2007
* FIVB Best Hitter 2005, 2006, 2007
* FIVB Best Offensive Player 2007
* FIVB Most Outstanding 2007
* FIVB Sportsperson 2005, 2006, 2007
* FIVB Tour Champion 2002 (Misty May-Treanor)

References

External links

* [http://www.kerriwalsh.com Official website of Kerri Walsh]
*USOC profile|volleyball|1037|Kerri Walsh|
* [http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1819129_1819134_1825970,00.html Kerri Walsh] on TIME's 100 Olympic Athletes To Watch.
*cite web|accessdate=
url=http://www.radiofaction.com/hosts/kerriwalsh.htm
title=Walsh's Sirius radio show
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080105175247/http://www.radiofaction.com/hosts/kerriwalsh.htm
publisher=FACTION
archivedate=2008-01-08
* [http://www.mistyandkerri.com MistyAndKerri.com Fan website]
* [http://www.fatspike.com/keyword/kerri+walsh Kerri Walsh Photo Database]