Call to Action: Jefferson Award nominees

The Jefferson Awards are a prestigious national recognition system honoring community and public service in America.  They began in 1972 to create a Nobel Prize for public service. Today, their primary purpose is to serve as a “Call to Action for Volunteers” in local communities.

Did you know that athletes give back to their communities more than most groups?  Well, it’s true. Check out some of their random acts of kindness.

This month, voting begins for the prestigious national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by an Athlete.   A list of highly impressive nominees includes the following women:

Cheri Balwut – Paralympic Gold Medalist

Brandi Chastain – Soccer player

Lauren Fleshman - Long distance runner

Sara Hall – Runner

Mia Hamm – Soccer player

Lindsey Harding – Basketball player

Ana Ivanovic – Tennis player

Jelena Jankovic – Tennis player

Jessica Mendoza – Softball player

Angela Ruggiero – Hockey player

Kerri Walsh – Volleyball player

If you’re not already familiar with these inspiring women, you need to be. Click here to read about the incredible things these athletes are doing and to vote (by November 15th) for your favorite nominee.

Shaq vs. Serena Williams in tennis?

 ABC  is set to air “Shaq Vs.,” a reality show pitting four times hoops champion Shaquille O’Neal against top athletes in their own sports.

O’Neal, who he’s scheduled to report for NBA training camp Sept. 15 as he joins the Cleveland Cavaliers next season,  began filming this week in Pittsburgh, where he’ll take on Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in football. 

Other episodes will pit O’Neal against Michael Phelps in swimming, Oscar De La Hoya in boxing, Albert Pujols in baseball, Serena Williams in tennis and Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in beach volleyball.

O’Neal says he came up with the idea as a fun way to help train for the NBA season and figured sports fans “would really want to see an athlete play another sport.” He knew most of the athletes and recruited some of them on Twitter. He is hoping to book pal Lance Armstrong for a cycling competition once the Tour de France ends.

Each episode will include preliminary challenges along with some comical “trash talking.”  But  when it comes to competing, there is no joking, O’Neal says.

At the finish is the marquee event, usually on the athlete’s home turf, but there’s no cash prize: “Bragging rights are always better than any monetary prize,” O’Neal says

Set your DVRs. The series is set to premiere Aug. 18 and will air Tuesdays at 9 ET/PT.

Volleyball star Kerri Walsh becomes a mom

Olympic gold medals are cool. But two-time Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh just got the biggest prize of all: She became a mom.

Walsh, 30, and her husband, AVP pro-volley ball player Casey Jennings, 33, welcomed son Joseph Michael Jennings at 7:15 p.m. on May 22 in Los Angeles. The first child for Walsh and Jennings weighed in at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, sporting a soft shock of blond hair, the same color as Dad’s.

The AVP Tour said mother and baby are “happy and healthy.”

“We could not be more thrilled to welcome Joseph into the world,” Walsh told People.com. “It’s the most incredible feeling. We are already so in love with him and it’s such an amazing, special moment for our family.”

Walsh and teammate Misty May-Treanor won the Olympic gold medal in Athens in 2004 and again in Beijing in 2008. Both players have said they would take some time off to start families and Walsh apparently conceived the night of the Olympic triumph.

For Dad, the 24 hours leading up to the birth was topsy-turvy. Jennings was in the middle of the AVP Crocs Huntington Beach Open. Walsh was a week past her due date when main-draw play began Friday. Jennings and partner Matt Fuerbringer won both of their Friday matches.

And “Joey” waited until Dad was finished playing Friday to enter the world.

Walsh’s water broke at 6 p.m. Friday, five minutes after Jennings returned to their Hermosa Beach home. Jennings drove her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, in traffic.

“It was just a beautiful thing,” Jennings, a defensive specialist, recalled. “Kerri is a star. She waited for me to get home, and I think mentally she just did exactly what she wanted to do.”

Jennings will never forget the first look the baby gave Mom. He drifted back to the moment and explained:

“The baby looked at her right away and was just staring at her like: ‘This is the woman that’s been talking to me for the past nine months.’ And he’s looking at her, and you can just tell there was that immediate bond.”

Congrats to both Casey and Kerri.

Hot Winter Nights ahead for pro volleyball tour

January 16, 2009 – The idea of playing beach volleyball in the dead of winter may seem like a novel idea, but that’s exactly what’s happening as part of the Hot Winter Nights Indoor Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.

Starting this weekend AVP athletes will pack up the sand (over 200 tons of it) and head out on a 17-city tour, visiting indoor arenas in various cities throughout the East Coast, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest. First stop – the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.

The format for the HWN Tour will be different from what is seen during the summer. Instead of playing in set teams, a round-robin format will be used to determine both a men’s and women’s individual champion. Each event will showcase four men’s and four women’s athletes, who will battle it out on the sand to determine the best player on the beach for the night.

The round robin format separates athletes from their normal teams, and in many cases puts long standing partners on opposing sides of the net.

Featured this year are seven of the eight Americans who competed in the Beijing Olympics. Misty May-Treanor, who won her second straight gold medal, will miss the tour because she is recovering from knee surgery after tearing her ACL practicing for Dancing with the Stars.

Her partner, Kerri Walsh, is pregnant; she won’t be playing but will appear in Grand Rapids, Mich., Kansas City, Mo., and Indianapolis next weekend to sign autographs and mingle with fans.

During the course of the Tour, the women’s side will feature such AVP veterans as Elaine Youngs, Nicole Branagh Annett Davis, Jenny Johnson-Jordan, Katie Lindquist, and Holly McPeak.

Annett and Jenny have been partners on the outdoor tour for many years, and for the first time will face each other on opposing sides of the net at a HWN event. McPeak captured one indoor title in 2008 and will provide tough competition going into the 2009 season.

The HWN Tour attempts to replicate the authentic Southern California beach party atmosphere. The only thing trumping the unabashed fun is the world-class volleyball action. So if you’re in a part of the country where it is freezing outside, hit the beach and see some of the best athletes in the world bump, set and spike their way to a title.

Misty & Kerri shine as Glamour’s women of the year

December 8, 2008 – We’re a little late on this but didn’t want the accolades to go unnoticed.

Last month, some of the world’s most influential women were honored during Glamour’s 19th annual Women of the Year awards. It was a night filled with glammed up politicians, media moguls, celebrities, athletes and activists honoring those who have made unparalleled contributions to society, politics, science, and so much more.

Among the ten honored women were Olympic gold medal winning beach volleyball players Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

According to Glamour:

The women met as teenagers, when Walsh asked her idol, May, for an autograph. In 2001 they decided to team up, and since then they have not only reached the top of the sport—they’ve taken it to a new level. Walsh, 30, and May-Treanor, 31, are the only beach volleyball players to win back-to-back gold medals, in Athens and Beijing, and did so without losing a single set.

Other honorees this year include Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Tyra Banks, Nicole Kidman, CEO of the luxury brand Chanel Maureen Chiquet, Nujood Ali, Kara Walker, and Jane Goodall.  Congrats to all!

Kerri Walsh on Mommy Track

December 3, 2008 – Olympian Kerri Walsh confirmed to “Access Hollywood” that she is expecting first child.  The statuesque, six foot one gold medalist sounded ecstatic about the news.

I’m chubby and I’m pregnant and it’s awesome!” Kerri told Billy [Bush] on Wednesday morning.

And as it turns out, a gold medal wasn’t the only thing Kerri and husband Casey Jennings brought home from the games in Beijing.

This will be the first child for the couple and it comes as no surprise.  During the Olympics Walsh and her beach volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor both said that after the games they would be turning their attention to starting families with their husbands.
Congratulations Kerri!

Listen to the whole interview.

Beach Volleyball: New partner, same result

October 12, 2008 – With her usual partner recovering from a ruptured achilles tendon suffered on DWTS, two-time U.S. beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh has teamed with  fellow Olympian Nicole Branagh. The duo breezed through most of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour beach event at the Jumeirah Beach Park courts in Dubai and met U.S. teammates Jen Boss and April Ross in the weekend final.

Branagh and Walsh defeated their compatriots 21-18, 21-19 for the championship.  The pair shared the  $28,000 first-place prize while Boss and Ross split $19,500 for the silver medal finish.

In winning her 38th international gold medal, Walsh tied longtime partner Misty May-Treanor for the most titles at FIVB-sanctioned events.

Ouch: Misty May Treanor hurts ankle; out of DWTS?

October 6, 2008 – According to Access Hollywood, Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor’s “Dancing With the Stars” status is in question after suffering an injury on Friday.

“Misty May-Treanor sustained an injury on Friday and received immediate medical attention,” show producers told Access on Saturday in a statement. “Despite previous reports, she did not break her ankle. She is resting comfortably at home. Doctors will reevaluate her condition on Monday and determine the outcome of her participation on the show.”

Star Magazine reported that Misty broke her ankle cutting her out of the Dancing With the Stars competition completely.

The two-time beach volleyball Olympic champion suffered the injury on Friday afternoon when rehearsing with her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy at a dance studio in L.A.

She entered Cedars Sinai hospital in the late afternoon and was given a cast.

“I had problems with this ankle in March so I knew it was delicate, but I just can’t believe it broke and I am off the show now!” a devastated Misty told Star.

Since two Olympic gold medalists had previously won “Dancing with the Stars” Misty was an obvious pick to succeed this season.

She may not have been as fleet on the ballroom as she had been on the beach but she did have some consistent scores. Now her involvement in the show is up in the air.

On the official Dancing With The Stars message board, rumors are running rampant.  Some posters suggest Misty is definitely out of the competition, but ABC doesn’t want to confirm it, because they want people tuning in to the show tonight to find out.

Who will take Misty’s place if she is forced out of the competition?  One rumor suggests that Misty’s volleyball partner Kerri Walsh will be stepping in to dance with Maks though that seems unlikely.

Another rumor is that Kim Kardashian will be returning to the competition. If Kardashian does return, will she partner with Mark Ballas or switch partners and dance with Maksim Chmerkovskiy instead?

Guess we’ll just have to tune in to find out.  Whatever happens, we wish Misty a speedy recovery!

(Editors Note: Official word is that Misty ruptured her Achilles tendon rehearsing the jive (double ouch) and will need surgery and about nine months of physical rehabilitation.)

Golden girls May-Treanor, Walsh fall in Ohio

August 31, 2008 – After winning back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics and going more than 100 matches without a loss, beach volleyball stars Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh found themselves on the wrong side of the leaderboard on Sunday. The duo lost for the first time in more than a year, dropping a 21-19, 10-21, 25-23 decision to #3 seed Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh in The AVP Crocs Cup Shootout.

With the loss, the two-time Olympic champions’ historic winning streak ended at 112 consecutive match victories and 19 consecutive titles. They last lost on Aug. 19, 2007, also to Branagh and Youngs who now earn some much deserved respect for beating the seemingly unbeatable pair.

The final took 1 hours, 45 minutes, making it the second longest women’s match in AVP history, missing the record by just a minute. May-Treanor and Walsh dropped to 10-2 in finals matches against Branagh and Youngs.

Off the sand, be sure to catch Misty May-Treanor competing on one of our fave guilty pleasure TV shows -  “Dancing with the Stars” which has it’s season premiere Sept. 22nd.

Kerri Walsh loses gold going for gold

August 12, 2008 – Even the volunteers go for the gold at the Olympic beach volleyball venue.When American beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh’s wedding ring flew off during her opening match of the Olympics, venue workers combed the sand with metal detectors to find it.

 Walsh, who is married to fellow beach volleyball pro and former NCAA champion Casey Jennings, lost the ring when she went up for a block in Sunday morning’s match against Japan’s Mika Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara.

Some 17,000 tons of sand were brought into Chaoyang Park to create the beach volleyball venue, so if finding the ring wasn’t exactly a needle in a haystack, it was close. A video replay of the play helped narrow the search but volunteers rake the sand during the match, so that ring could have literally gone anywhere.

Despite the loss of gold, Walsh maintained her composure (one of the many differences between us) allowing her and teammate Misty May-Treanor go on and beat Japan.  Hopefully, there is more gold to come for the pair.

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