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We love celebrating women on top of their game. In our new series Game On, we’re interviewing top athletes about their well-being routines—covering everything from nutrition that makes them feel strong to the moments that bring them joy.
Heading to the 2024 Paris Olympics to represent Team USA in beach volleyball is a superstar duo known as TKN. Last week, we chatted with one-half of that pair, 27-year-old Taryn Kloth—and today, we get to catch up with the other half, 26-year-old, 5-foot-6-inch athlete Kristen Nuss.
The duo heads into the Olympics with a lot of buzz: They currently rank second in the world and effortlessly clinched the first spot on Team USA with nearly three months left to spare during the qualifying timeline.
With visions of gold in the not-so-distant future, Nuss chatted with me all about how she’s preparing her body for the road ahead, how she finds mental clarity, and what accessories she must have with her on the sand.
mindbodygreen: You’re getting ready for the Paris Olympics. The brightest spotlight on the biggest stage. How do you mentally prepare for big matches?
Kristen Nuss: My approach may be different than most. I have found over the years that if I get super focused and “locked in” that I actually don’t perform well. So I try to be a little more laid back.
Taryn probably talked you through our routine of listening to the same AirPod [ed. note: In Kloth’s Game On interview, she shared that they listen to the same music by sharing AirPods during warm-ups to help them get in the same mindset]. So, in warm-ups, I just try to keep it fun and relaxed. You can find me jamming out to whatever song is playing in my head. Chatting with our coaches.
I’m not super focused—keeping it very light. It’s just having fun. Because, honestly, that is what I find I need to perform my best.
mbg: What do you have to have with you on the sand? What are your game-day essentials?
Nuss: In beach volleyball, we don’t have a ton of equipment. We get on the court, and we’re in our bathing suits. But an absolute necessity is sunglasses. I could not play this sport without sunglasses.
We wear Zenni Optical Sport Performance Sunglasses. We like them because they have a lot of options for competition sunglasses with different lenses and styles. It’s great to be able to have fun with it—even being able to match the color of our lenses with our suits. Or depending on what the sun is doing that day, we’ll pick lenses to help performance. The different lenses will help with visibility based on the sunshine.
For example, if there are no clouds and it’s just pure sun, some of the lenses are better for that. Or other lenses don’t block as much of the sunlight. Some lenses will help adjust the color you’re seeing—so it’s a little yellow or a little darker. A lot of that depends on your personal preference.
Oh, and then sunscreen and my hat. That’s pretty much it. That’s pretty much all the equipment and everything that I need to perform during the competition.
Image by mbg Creative / courtesy of source
mbg: How do you sleep before a big match? Because a lot of people struggle with sleeping before something big—nonetheless something like the Olympics or a big global competition!
Nuss: Sleeping issues before something big is for sure a thing. There’s been countless nights before a big game or a championship match laying in bed, and I’m just like, Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. But I cannot shut my brain off!
If that’s the case—if it’s one of those nights—I tend to focus on my breathing. I just take really deep breaths, in and out, and really just hone in on that. Then I’ll also just start counting and I’ll just count. It gives my brain something to do other than think about that one thing—the match. It makes my brain focus on something other than, OK, what’s going to be the weather tomorrow? What’s the play? How am I going to perform?
Other than that, before I go to bed I like to get off my phone. I read a book before—which again is really helpful if it’s the night before a big game and I know I am going to struggle to sleep. Reading just helps me calm down and get off the screen.
mbg: What meals help you feel strongest and fuel your body?
Nuss: Honestly, before a big game—and especially depending on when we play—a good ol’ peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That is a solid pregame. It’s the perfect snack to give you the energy and carbs that you need. We [Kloth and I] eat them a lot when we travel.
Day to day, I follow a high-protein diet. It’s just about eating a ton of protein in every meal that we get. I personally love doing higher protein, lower calorie, and a lot of quantity because I am someone who enjoys that feeling of fullness.
High protein. Low calorie. High quantity. That’s the goal.
mbg: How do you build up resilience?
Nuss: I give a ton of credit to our coach. He structures practice where there are some days that it’s just going in to get reps—but then there are the days we just get after it.
You want practice to be harder than the game itself. That’s where the resilience gets built—in those practice moments when you’re in a really hard drill, he’s just crushing balls at you, then you’re having to do some sort of serve receive and constantly just execute. You get to the point where your brain is like, Go, go, go—but your legs are dying and just stop working.
I feel like if you can push through that in practice, then you’ll be OK. In a game you have adrenaline pumping through you, so you know OK, I can get through this. This is easy.
mbg: What’s your favorite workout that has nothing to do with your sport?
Nuss: Do you consider walking?
mbg: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Nuss: Well, I absolutely love just going on a walk. It’s also just good for the mental side of things—just leaving the phone at home and just going for a stroll.
Especially when we’re at these tournaments internationally and we’re at these events set in these glorious places. It’s so fun to explore! That’s something Taryn and I really enjoy doing—just going out and exploring.
mbg: I’m so interested in teammate dynamics and what makes a good teammate. Beach volleyball is unique because you have one teammate, so I’m curious—what makes a good teammate?
Nuss: I think for me, a great team is someone that’s going to instill confidence in you and build you up. Especially in beach volleyball, you need your other half on the court to be successful.
I’ve seen situations where someone might get a bad set, and the teammate will roll their eyes. It’s like, Why are you tearing down your partner? Your partner is the one person who you need the most to succeed at this.
So I think a good teammate is someone who instills that confidence and trust in you during those hard times, like say, when you aren’t playing your best game. A good time is going to be someone who is still there and they’ll still have utmost trust.
I think that is something that Taryn does so much for me. I know that she trusts me so much that in hard times she still believes in me. And that belief is something that’s hard to come by.
mbg: What advice do you have for young women or girls who want to play volleyball?
Nuss: Dream big—no dream is too big.
I’m a little undersized compared to most other beach volleyball players. Every single time I turned on the TV, no one looked like me height-wise. I would look up the heights of players and everyone was at least 2-3 inches taller than me. But I just kept on going.
