InterView
By Chris Murphy
Kendall Wesenberg – Olympic Experiences and Advice
Modesto is fortunate to have many hometown heroes, and it seems like there are always more people that are stepping up to take this part. The people of Modesto were celebrating having one of their own at the Winter Olympics in South Korea. Kendall Wesenberg is the daughter of Carl and Laurie Wesenberg and grew up in Modesto. Kendall has always been an athlete excelling in soccer, basketball, golf, tennis, volleyball, track and field and spent a lot of time in the mountains skiing and snowboarding as well as at the lake water skiing. After playing sports at Central Catholic, she graduated from University of Colorado at Boulder. One of her favorite experiences was being a counselor at Foothill Horizons and many of the local kids in our community experienced her leadership. Kendall will be the keynote speaker and share her story at the American Heart Association’s Wear Go Red for Women Luncheon on May 4th. Let’s catch up with Kendall:
ModestoView: Did you ever imagine that one day you would be in the Olympics?
Kendall Wesenberg: I always took pride in being an athlete but the Olympics were never anything I had in mind until I started skeleton.
MV: What was different about the Olympics than during your training efforts?
KW: We tried to keep everything the same as a normal race both on the preparation and performance side and by race day it honestly felt like another world cup race, albeit with a much larger crowd.
MV: What do you think you will do differently going forward to build on this experience?
KW: My hip has finally got back to a point where it can withstand an entire season of effort and stress so I’m excited to keep improving on my push and we have a lot of ground to make up on the equipment side of things, so a lot of my focus is on how to improve that right now.
MV: What was your favorite Olympic moment?
KW: The opening ceremonies was hands down one of the coolest things I have ever gotten to do.
MV: What advice would you give to people that are thinking about trying a new sport?
KW: my advice to any one looking to try the sport is to go for it! If you think it’s something you might be good at, you have nothing to lose in giving it a shot. Worst case scenario, you’ll have a good story.
MV: Is there something you learned during your high school and college sport years that really prepared you for where you are now?
KW: the commitment it takes to be an athlete and to plan and prioritize your schedule is something that you learn growing up as an athlete and that is super helpful in professional sports as well as the rest of your life.
MV: How cool was it to see your many family and friends there at the Olympics cheering you on?
KW: having a group of my friends and family there meant everything to me. I had a pretty awful race at a really important time but having them there helped me through the end of the race and the emotions after and also, kept the important things in perspective. It’s really great to know that the people who love you have your back regardless of outcome and to have them fly all the way to Korea to show me that was incredible
MV: What was one of the moments that caused you the most frustration.
KW: Missing the turn 2 to 3 transition in my first run. My Olympic race was basically over in 10 seconds. That corner had been tricky all week but I got it really well on two of my last couple of training runs so to miss it like that in the first run and take myself out of the race so early was really tough.
MV: What is the first thing you did after the Olympics.
KW: I slept and watched Netflix for about a week. Caught up on a bunch of appointments and am now traveling through Europe for a few weeks to take a break from it all and enjoy some adventure with nowhere to be
MV: What should a kid, that is considering taking up an Olympic sport, do to prepare themselves?
KW: IF a kid is setting their goals on the Olympics or any professional sport endeavor, first and foremost, they should make sure they love it. You’re going to spend a lot of time working to be better at it and sacrifice a lot of other opportunities in the process so if you don’t love it, none of that will be worth it and eventually it will be hard to find motivation and secondly, find balance. You need other outlets and passions and hobbies so that you aren’t so caught up in one thing.
MV: Any shout outs you want to give to your home team that helped you make it to this level?
KW: I don’t like to do shout outs because I am always worried I’ll forget someone but I am truly so thankful for all of the people who have helped me get to this point, whether in an athletic realm or just in helping to shape who I am today.
MV: What is your next goal?
KW: After I get a decent amount of rest in, I’m going to get back to training to try and make the world cup team again next season and see what I can do.
MV: Our fun signature question: Beatles or Stones?
KW: Beatles!
Learn more about Kendall on her official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/kendallwesenbergusa/
Learn more about the American Heart Association Go Red Lunch: ahastockton.ejoinme.org/MyEvents/20172018ModestoStocktonGoRedLuncheon/tabid/886183/Default.aspx
