Resilience and Recognition: Kendra’s Paralympic Journey

In this powerful episode of The Real P3 Podcast, we have the privilege of hearing from Kendra, a Paralympic athlete, as she shares her inspiring journey filled with challenges, self-discovery, and triumphs. Kendra discusses the day-to-day battles of managing insecurities, the importance of personal growth, and the influence of a supportive community.

What You Will Learn:

- Daily Progress and Resilience: Kendra emphasizes the importance of taking life one day at a time, acknowledging that progress often comes with setbacks. She shares her mindset about embracing the incremental gains and the reality of occasional steps backward.

- Dealing with Insecurities: Despite her achievements, Kendra opens up about the doubts and insecurities that have followed her since the early stages of her career. She delves into how these feelings are largely internal and shares her strategies for managing them, encouraging listeners to focus on enjoying life’s positives.

- Growth Through Self-Knowledge: Learn how Kendra’s journey has been a process of getting to know herself, understanding her thoughts, and learning to silence negative internal dialogues.

- Inspiration from the Paralympic Movement:  Kendra reflects on the inspiration she’s drawn from fellow athletes and the Paralympic community, acknowledging the pivotal role this support network has played in her career.

- Gratitude for Opportunities: She expresses profound gratitude for the opportunities presented to her and the supportive figures in her life who encouraged her to seize them, stressing the importance of continually saying "yes" to new challenges.

- Balancing Life and Athletic Career: Kendra discusses the decision to step away from sports to focus on a “normal life” and her mixed feelings about this transition, capturing the lingering passion she has for her sport.

This episode of The Real P3 is a true testament to the strength and enriching experiences that come from being part of the Paralympic movement. Kendra’s story is not just about sports; it’s about overcoming internal battles, embracing community support, and recognizing the unwavering strength of the human spirit.

Join us to celebrate Kendra’s contributions to sports and her powerful narrative of empowerment.

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Transcript

Casey
 0:00:00
 Welcome to the Real P3 Podcast, now co-hosted by myself, Casey Bradley, and my esteemed colleague, Philip Johan Oldendahl from Zimbabwe. As we reintroduce the global agribusiness dimension to the Real P3, we aim to connect you with extraordinary individuals who inspire us to become unstoppable in both life and business. While I continue to shed light on the latest in animal nutrition and health, focusing on the US perspective,

Casey
 0:00:35
 Johan will open the doors to his vast global network as a Neufeld scholar. Embark with us on this enriched journey of discovery and practical insights. Our expanded view will navigate through the intricate world of agribusiness, powered by the collaborative efforts of Animistic and Swine Nutrition Management.

Casey
 0:00:56
 This podcast is your bridge to groundbreaking ideas in animal nutrition, agriculture, and beyond. Promising episodes that are not only enlightening, but deeply inspiring. Tune in to grow and transform with us. Welcome to the Real P3 Podcast where science and heart converge, empowering knowledge to spring into action.

Philip
 0:01:18
 Okay. So hi everyone. So we're back with Kendra Hall. We had a really cool podcast recording with her last time where she was sharing about

Philip
 0:01:29
 transparency sort of in agriculture versus what we can show the public. So if you haven't listened to that recording, please step me up. But Kendra, you've got a fascinating background for me. Like I really, again, you'll hear it from me all the time, that word resilience is not going to go away. And could you share a little bit about you and you're an Olympic athlete, you're a Paralympic athlete, you've gone three times. Like, could you share that story with us? I'm really excited to hear it.

Kendra
 0:02:02
 Yeah, sure, of course. So I was born and raised in the US. As we talked about in the previous episode, I was born without the lower part of my left arm. So basically, with an amputation just below the elbow. Nothing traumatic, it just happened sometimes. And so my parents from day dots. They raised me as if I was any other kid. It was never an excuse. You know, we were raised on a horse farm, so I was expected to keep up with chores, do everything, but they knew that I would just have to kind of figure out my own way of doing things. They were

Kendra
 0:02:38
 really, really amazing about that. And fast forward throughout my childhood, I was always really big into sports. Indiana is a basketball country, so I grew up playing basketball, ran track. I even did a very short, regrettable stint as a cheerleader at one point. And then at the age of about 12, I got into the sport of volleyball. And it's kind of a funny story because volleyball had never been on my radar before. I really had no idea what it was.

Kendra
 0:03:11
 But my next door neighbor, living out in the country, like, there are kids kind of within a mile, you become best friends with them immediately because you have no choice. And my best friend at the time and my next-door neighbor, she really wanted to go out for the volleyball team, but she didn't want to go by herself. And so she begged me to go with her, and so I did. I joined her and made the team.

Kendra
 0:03:32
 And long story short, I kind of naturally took to it and played for basically all until now. I've been playing for 25 years nearly, which is kind of insane to think about. But I guess back to the Paralympic journey, I was at the time just playing normal volleyball in high school. And during the club season, my coach, he just basically approached me and said, did you know that there's a Paralympic volleyball team? And I had no idea. And he said, you should call them.

Kendra
 0:04:07
 They're looking for players. So we did, we phoned the head coach of the USA women's sitting volleyball program at the time, a man named Mike Hewitt. And he invited me to come out for, to one of their training camps to try it and sit down on the floor and play. And I wish I could say I was hooked from then, but I actually absolutely hated it.

Philip
 0:04:30
 It sounds difficult, but...

Kendra
 0:04:31
 It was really hard. I mean, I was used to playing volleyball where, you know, I was able to use my legs and jump and do all of these things that I was used to doing. It's a very different sport, sitting volleyball, from regular volleyball. And the other thing that I kind of came to realize was that sitting volleyball took away the only advantage I really had, which was to use my legs. That's interesting.

Kendra
 0:04:54
 Yeah, forcing me to use my legs for absolutely everything. So I found it really difficult. And the other thing that really bothered me, I told you that I was kind of raised like any other kid and my whole childhood, I basically spent trying to not let other people know that I had disability. Not that it wasn't obvious, but I always wore cosmetic prosthetics. I never wanted

Kendra
 0:05:19
 it to ever be mentioned. I just did whatever I had to do. And this was the very first time in my entire life at this training camp that I was ever kind of identified as a person with a disability. And it horrified me because I was not at peace with that. Especially at the time I was 16.

Philip
 0:05:42
 Finding your identity, I really appreciate that and sharing that because that's true strength, being vulnerable, because that's something you can give. And I think we're gonna get down this road.

Kendra
 0:05:53
 Yeah, it was more, not really traumatizing,

Kendra
 0:05:56
 but I was really not comfortable. So basically I was ready to quit before I had even begun. I was just in tears with my mom was there and she's like, no, no, no, just like go back to the next day. It's going to be fine. Just try it. See if you like it. Tomorrow's another day. And I stayed with it and it was fine, but I wasn't going to go back. I was like, I want to solve this. I'm just going to go back home.

Kendra
 0:06:21
 Right. Remember versus playing volleyball late point over life. And they convinced me, my mom and my dad convinced me to give it one more try and go to the next training camp. And then after that one ended, go to the next training camp. And then after that one, we went to Holland for my very first time ever out of the country. And it was kind of at that point I was like, okay, this is all right. This is a pretty good gig. I had kind of gotten used to the different style of playing and I was actually becoming quite good.

Kendra
 0:06:50
 And yeah, so it was kind of, that was like a huge, that, you know, I feel like in life you have these moments where your life had been gone very differently. Had you taken the alternative path. And I really see that first training camp as one of those moments for me, because had my parents just let me quit, I wouldn't have three Paralympic medals.

Kendra
 0:07:13
 I wouldn't have had a 10-year career as a Team USA athlete. I wouldn't have met my husband, and I more than likely would not be living in the United Kingdom. So it's just these like crazy, I don't know what my life would look like now.

Kendra
 0:07:25
 It's certainly nothing like what it does today. That's amazing.

Philip
 0:07:29
 That's such an amazing, your parents, oh man, they sound incredible. You know, like just to be able to give you that space to be this person, I really want to take my hats off to them because they've raised an incredible human. And again, like you said, push through the hard, you know? And sometimes what seems difficult, you can't see why.

Philip
 0:07:50
 And that's definitely something I know from my own life experiences. Why is this happening? It's pressure. There's easier ways you can get over it. Just go through it. And to have such a good outcome from being able to push through was really hard.

Philip
 0:08:03
 It was an emotional and mental battle for you that you push through that you could havejust walked away from. 

Kendra
 0:08:07
 Yeah, absolutely. Oh, 100%. And it is really scary sometimes to think like, oh, my God, like, what if I had just been what I just done it like anyway, so you can't do too much on that, I guess. But yeah, and I think I don't want this to be a story of like, oh, I'm so great. I want these great things.

Kendra
 0:08:24
 This is my life story is a story of like all these different people that encouraged me and supported me That were there at the right times in the right places and I wouldn't be where I am without any of them So yeah, I don't want to take all the credit. My parents deserve a lot of it 

Philip
 0:08:42
 You do too, but they sound fascinating and it just really solidifies like sort of the people around you like how impactful they are and being very attentive to who those people are around you. Like, make sure they're healthy, make sure they're positive, make sure they cheer you on and they want you to succeed because if you don't have the right people around you, your life would have taken a different road.

Kendra
 0:09:02
 Oh, absolutely.

Philip
 0:09:03
 So I can't really take home for anyone out there because I like my heart really goes out to people that are struggling, people in any way, you know, whether it's a disability, whether it's emotional, whether it's a mental battle they're going through. I really feel like there's a lot of people in the world today who are pushing through, who are doing great things, who have had a challenge put in front of them and they've been able to overcome it and have such a great outcome, like your story, the people around you.

Philip
 0:09:33
 What do we share with guys, men, ladies, whoever's going through a hard time or feels like, you know, why them or why is this happening to me? Like what strength, what hope is there?

Kendra
 0:09:43
 Gosh, I mean, from my own personal experience, I think it's just about reminding yourself that like this too shall pass.

Philip
 0:09:52
 I love that.

Kendra
 0:09:53
 And I think, you know, I think things can get really dark and feel really kind of insurmountable. But I think it takes, it takes a lot of strength to do it, but I think it's reminding yourself that this is only temporary and that you will find a way out. But you need help, and you need people in your life

Kendra
 0:10:12
 to help you do that.

Kendra
 0:10:13
 None of us can do anything in life all by ourselves. And I think that's the part that takes a lot of making yourself vulnerable enough to ask for that help and to admit the things that you're feeling and the doubts that you're having, I think, is really difficult. But again, you just kind of have to decide, like, do I really want to get out of this?

Kendra
 0:10:32
 Yes. Well, I'm going to have to do some really uncomfortable things to get through it.

Philip
 0:10:39
 You have to get up and show up because I feel no one's coming. It's you, like you're coming, but you have to be the one who gets up. You're the one who has to reach out. You're the one who has to show up. And then it's amazing when you do do that, when you do reach out, when you do speak to people and it's the right people, how you're able to completely change the narrative and

Philip
 0:11:01
 the direction of your own life. And it's every single day, it's one day at a time that you can get better, get closer, get stronger, you know, be able to take the knocks as well, because sometimes it's two steps forward and three steps backwards, but you've got to keep pushing.

Kendra
 0:11:14
 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you know, I think these things are, they're never just like over as well. You know, all of these doubts and insecurities that I had in the very early stages of my career, they still are, you know, they still follow me today. But I think through that journey, you kind of learn, you learn to know yourself and you learn to understand that actually. So in my case, my insecurities about my arm are all in my head.

Kendra
 0:11:40
 Nobody else is actually thinking any of this. So I just try to tell that part of my brain to shut up and sit down and try to just remember to enjoy the good things in life as well. And I think, again, it was a really long journey of doing that and I was inspired by so many,

Kendra
 0:11:57
 so many of the amazing athletes and people that I had the privilege of knowing and getting to know being a part of the Paralympic movement. And I still just kind of like sit back some days and I'm just amazed that I was ever given this opportunity in the first place and ever grateful

Kendra
 0:12:14
 that I have the people in my life to encourage me to say yes to that and to keep saying yes to that because there were certainly several points in my career where I thought, you know what, it's been long enough, I'm done. I want to focus on normal life again. I actually did finally do that.

Kendra
 0:12:29
 I spent the next five years saying, oh God, I wish I could go back and do it again.

Philip
 0:12:34
 Yeah, that's really cool. Kendra, thanks for sharing that story. I think it's an amazing story. And I will speak on behalf of all the listeners, like, just say thank you to your parents from us as well for just raising this amazing human

Philip
 0:12:49
 and for being positive and fun and happy to take it on the chin as well. We said it in the last episode, if the pile went awful, we couldn't stop recording you. You're so, you know, just chill. If it happens, it happens.

Philip
 0:13:00
 And I appreciate that and I appreciate you taking the time and sharing the story.

Kendra
 0:13:03
 Yeah, thanks so much, Phil. It was a real joy to share it, you know. It was a real joy to share it, you know.

Philip
 0:13:07
 Yeah, that's awesome.