And, why not?

She’s called the grounds on the shores of Chautauqua Lake “home” for most of her life and she is particularly fond of the place known simply as the Amphitheater.

“There have been some pretty impressive people I’ve seen on this stage,” said VanDerveer as she looked out from that very same location late Wednesday morning.

Then she rattled off a few women’s names, including Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, author and speaker; contralto and civil rights pioneer Marian Anderson; vocalist and songwriter Ella Fitzgerald; and singer and actress Diana Ross.

OBSERVER Photo by Scott Kindberg Tara VanDerveer, left, and Kerri Walsh Jennings stand for the national anthem on Wednesday at Chautauqua Institution.

When she was through, VanDerveer looked to her right and said — tongue in cheek, “Kerri, no pressure.”

That prompted an admittedly uncomfortable Kerri Walsh Jennings, the most decorated beach volleyball player — male or female — in the history of Olympic volleyball, to look out at the audience and utter a seven-word response: “Can you guys hear my heart beat?”

Obviously it was a rhetorical question, but no one can ever question Walsh Jennings’ ticker.

A five-time Olympian, three-time Olympic gold medalist and a one-time bronze medalist, Walsh Jennings was also a four-time First Team All-American at Stanford where her teams won two national championships and finished runner-up once. After the 2000 Olympic Games where her USA indoor volleyball team finished fourth, she transitioned to beach volleyball and ultimately partnered with Misty May-Treanor in 2001 and started the greatest run of excellence for any beach volleyball duo in history. Together they won three consecutive World Championships and three Olympic gold medals over an 11-year period and, along the way, accrued a 112-match win streak which broke their own record of 89.

With that as a resume, it’s no wonder Walsh Jennings was paired with VanDerveer in Week One of Chautauqua’s lecture series entitled: “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World.”

With VanDerveer asking the questions and Walsh Jennings providing insightful and, often humorous, responses, the Amphitheater crowd was treated to a 58-minute oral blueprint on how to successfully reach the top.

For Walsh Jennings, 47, it started with family. Her father played Triple A baseball in the Oakland A’s organization and her mother competed in three sports at Santa Clara University.

“Competition was not a dirty word in our household,” she said. “I was just in an environment of joy for competition, and I got to watch the people I trust and love the most — my parents — compete growing up. … It’s in my DNA, and then nature and nurture took over.”

Mom and dad provided an assist to their daughter’s transition to beach volleyball when they told May-Treanor’s parents that she — the at-the-time reluctant Kerri — would be happy to join Misty.

“My parents said, ‘yes,’ for me,” Walsh Jennings said.

As it turned out, she described the volleyball marriage as “magic,” adding “that decision to be brave and to put myself out there in a place I was not comfortable really changed my life.”

Walsh Jennings added: “The goal in life is not to be fearless (because) that’s impossible, but the goal in life is to be brave today, a little braver tomorrow and a little braver the day after that for the rest of your life. That’s what sports has given me — the opportunity to rep out being brave. I’m so grateful.”

Now retired and the married mother of three teenagers, Walsh Jennings founded the p1440 Foundation, which has a mission to “unite, empower and inspire through beach volleyball.” The 1440 reflects the number of minutes in a day, and she believes in living every moment.

“I really believe with all my heart that we are the product of our environment, so it’s important to pay attention where you put yourself,” she said. “I was just blessed to be gifted the most amazingly competitive and fiercely loving, winning family.”