01x05 - Michelle Wie & Kerri Walsh-Jennings

[bunniefuu]

- Oh, that's really good, 78 yards!

- What would you hit with a 7-iron?

- Like, 165...
- You a-hole

[both laughing]

- KERRI: OK!

♪ Oh, my god ♪

♪ I put it all on the line ♪

♪ I do this, like, all the time ♪

- Breathe out.
- Yeah, OK.

- And then you wanna come up.

That went far.

Yeah! And I can't breathe.

- CASEY: That's trouble.

- MAN: Kerri Walsh Jennings. The gold.

And she's done it for USA. Are champions.

- I'm Kerri Walsh Jennings

and I'm a professional
beach volleyball player.

- MAN: Oh!
- WOMAN: Simply brilliant!

- MAN: That bat from Michelle Wie.

- I'm Michelle Wie,
and I'm a professional golfer.

- MAN: Michelle Wie,
her first major championship.

- KERRI: Hey, I've got a friend
- KERRY: Hi.

- for you to meet. This is Michelle.
- KERRY: Hi.

- MICHELLE: Nice to meet you.
- KERRY: Nice to meet you.

KERRI: I know all about her.

- MICHELLE: Yeah, it's exciting.
- KERRY: Great golfer.

- MICHELLE: Slightly scary.

Uh, beach workout
- Yeah.

KERRI: Where I'm at now and where you are
coming back from an injury, like it's--

to me, it's the softer things that
make you a Jedi and make you laser-sharp.

I've had... I mean,
how many shoulder surgeries?

Too many. And three babies.

- Yeah.
- And, you know, plenty of injuries.

so today’s all about
getting long in recovery.

- Oh, I love that.

- And engaging your whole body
so that we can kick a*s.

I wanna feel good when I'm 92.
- Yeah.

- I wanna kick a*s in the court now
and feel good forever.

So, um, that's why
this workout is so important.

- KERRY: This is just a good way
to get the body moving.

So, its just a slide back...

and then a lift up, comes from here

and just lifts all the way out
past your head.

- OK.
- KERRY: Just reach back with this leg,

and then use that pole
to lift yourself up tall.

- I love that.
It feels really good on my left leg.

My right a*s is hurting.

- KERRI Is it?
- Yeah. [laughs]

[sighs]
- KERRI: You all right?

- MICHELLE: My butt is on fire.
- [KERRI laughs]

- So, you're opening your, uh, subscap,
you're getting some lat stretch.

- It's is kind of, like, a self-assessment

- because you feel
- Yeah.

- where you're tight, you know?
- Yeah.

And then you can kind of hang on
in that area a little bit more.

- A nice oblique stretch.

- MICHELLE: It was really nice to see that

you can incorporate,
you know, softer things

and thoracic shoulder mobility.

- KERRI: So, this rotation, obviously,
is really good

and helps just kind of
- Oh, yeah.

- open up all of it.

- I could feel my abs activating, too.

- KERRI: Yeah.
- KERRY: Sure.

- With golf,
you have to turn a lot this way,

and if I don't end up
using the right muscles,

I end up compensating with my hands.

I'm trying to, like, act like
I'm not winded right now.

[laughs]

- Ready to get sandy a little bit?
- Yeah, I'm ready.

- OK. Yeah? OK.

[grunts]

- KERRI: This is my husband,
this is my coach.

- CASEY: We'll do some passing.
- OK.

- So, he is assessing you

and you don't even know it.
- Oh, OK!

[Michelle laughs]

- KERRI: I love the sand
because it's more forgiving on the body.

I can go full throttle with trust
that I'm not gonna get hurt...

- MICHELLE: Yeah.
- going for ba*ls, and it's just fun.

And I'm 41.
- Yeah.

- I've been playing beach volleyball
for 20 years and it's because of the sand.

- CASEY: Good.

One of the most important things

is that you wanna get your feet
underneath the ball.

- That connects back to golf,

where it's like,
sometimes you play weird shots,

but you sill wanna try
to find your center.

And I can't breathe.

- [laughs] You are so good.
- That too.

- CASEY: So, I'm gonna throw her a ball.
- Yeah.

- She's just gonna lay out, dig it,
get up really fast,

and then she goes and hits.

- All right. You ready?
- Yeah. Wanna try one?

- KERRY: Oh. Almost. Here you go. Here.
- MICHELLE : That's a shame.

- So, angle. You have a beautiful
service space. This is your sweet spot.

Beautiful.
- CHASE: Left.

Yes!
- [Michelle chuckles]

- So, I would pass
and then, kind of, release to get ready,

see the set, and go get it.

Promise, you'll get there.
Hit high and deep.

- Two and jump! Beautiful!
- KERRI: Yes, jumbo to the corner.

- CASEY: Yeah.
- [Kerri laughs]

- MICHELLE: Prep work is key--

making sure that my thoracic
is moving properly

is one of the most important things

for injury prevention.
- KERRI: Yeah.

- MICHELLE: So making sure you do
these little things really adds up.

Acceleration is talked about
so much in sport

but people don't talk about deceleration.
- Right.

- I accelerate so much faster
than my body ever should--

that's when I get my injuries.

So then, because of that,
I'm not strong enough to decelerate

because I'm accelerating
stronger than what I am,

- Right.
- and that's what I'm learning,

is how it decelerates.

So, this is acceleration. Hold it,
and then decelerate on the way back.

- OK, this is the work?
- Accelerate, hold...

- Yeah. Decelerate,
and there's also breathing, too, like,

breathe out...
- Yeah, OK.

- and then slowly come back in.
- OK.

- And I love this because it's like--
I feel like Wolverine, kind of.

- And I was gonna say Wonder Woman.

- Yeah. So, hold it and then, like,
slowly decelerate coming back.

- This will certainly apply to volleyball.
- Yeah.

- They always tell me to,
"You know, engage here."

- Yeah.
- And I'm like-- so I was like,

- Yeah. Uh-huh.
- "I can't feel it."

So that kind of turns on, and reminds me,
- Yeah. Uh-huh.

- but I can tell I want to cheat
and I want my traps

and my back to do all the work.
- Yeah. Yeah.

I will incorporate that.

- In our sport, we end up looking
at things that are very close

and very, very far.
- Yeah.

- And for me, like, learning how to focus,

really quickly, adjusting to that
is really important.

So, I do a lot of vision workout.
You wanna create stamina in your eyes,

you wanna create range
in the peripheral

and how far you move your eyes.

- So you're training your eyes
like a muscle?

- Yes. Because your eyes
is a muscle, yeah.

So it's very simple. Uh, like,
you put this right in front of your face,

you look at that, look out, look back,

and see how fast you can refocus.
- Ooh.

- So it's like foam rolling for your eyes.
- Oh.

- And then another thing I do...

get really close, focus...

and, like, keep that focus on that tee
as you pull out.

- KERRI: Doing these things that aren't,

like, super physically demanding,
but are honing you,

like focusing on your vision, recovery,

you know, challenge me, accept me, let me,

but really sharpen me,
that, to me, is bad-a*s.

- MICHELLE: Unfortunately,
I'm going through some wrist stuff,

so I can't be swinging, uh, myself

but I definitely wanna show you
and see a simulator and...

I wanna see you make some contact.
- Oh, God. All right, Miss Michelle.

- So look at the ball, look at the ball,
and as soon as the ball goes,

you follow it.

Oh, that's really good!
Uh, you went 78 yards.

- What would you hit with a 7-iron?

- I usually hit around, like, 165.
- You a-hole!

- [laughs]
- [Kerry laughs] OK.

Aside from just doing it better,

in general, give me one fix.
- Uh-huh.

I would say, like, this right side,
just really--

just be more loose.
- OK. Am I a little stiff?

- MICHELLE: Yeah.
- OK.

- And then when you turn through,

like, really turn through
- OK.

- Oh, yeah, that's definitely straighter!

That much direction, like, its perfect.

That was like right on the line.
- Beautiful.

- You're so natural in that position.

I think it, like, relates back to,
like, the receiving

- and just, like, getting ready.
- Yeah?

- Oh, yeah!

- I love the, um, control before power.
- Yeah.

- Right? Same thing in volleyball.
- Uh-huh.

Like everyone is just going, like,
"Be a meathead--" but...

- Exactly. Yeah.
- control first. Like, master it first.

- KERRI: A sustained excellence
is what I'm after,

so everything we did today together,
everything that you're working on...

I'm definitely gonna incorporate
because I believe

that you can keep going like this in life.
- Yeah.

Like, no matter age, no matter where
you're at, I just really believe in that,

so I'm glad that you showed me
some things I could incorporate.

Yeah. I need to roll out my hammies more.

[both laughing]

Just seeing you, longevity-wise,
it's just really motivating

and inspiring because it was hard for me
to see myself playing at 41,

but seeing you do it with three kids,
like, its highly inspiring.

For sure.
- Oh, I love that.

Oh. You just add
another three years on to my career.

[both laugh]

- Thank you.
- Thank you.