RECESS: Juliet & Kelly Starrett on NCAAs, Healthy Aging, Dean Potter, and the Meowfia

Welcome to the first episode of RECESS, a new, more personal series from us, Juliet and Kelly Starrett. In these shorter, looser conversations, we’re pulling back the curtain on what’s going on in our lives, what we’re learning, what’s making us laugh, and what we’re thinking about across health, movement, longevity, performance, parenting, and everything in between.

In this episode, we talk about Kelly’s experience coaching Cal Women’s Water Polo at the NCAA championship and what it’s like to compete at that level. We unpack the “bronze medal mindset” and some of the biggest lessons we’ve learned from elite sport. We also dive into the Dean Potter documentary and reflect on our own experiences in 90s extreme sports culture. Plus, we share why we’re concerned about nicotine being normalized in wellness and what stood out to us at the Stanford Healthy Aging Conference.

And of course, we get into some lighter moments—including Kelly’s definitely-not-a-cat-group: the Meowfia.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why we’re still debating whether Kelly is in a cat group
• What Kelly learned from coaching at the NCAA championship
• How we think about loss, silver medals, and the bronze medal mindset
• Why the Dean Potter documentary hit close to home for us
• Why we’re concerned about nicotine products in wellness culture
• What stood out to us at the Stanford Healthy Aging Conference
• How we’re processing our youngest daughter’s senior-year milestones

Key Highlights:

00:00 — Why we’re starting RECESS

01:17 — The Meowfia, taco cat, and the funny-off

03:15 — Bringing fun back into health and longevity

03:58 — Kelly’s reflections from the NCAA women’s water polo championship

09:03 — Losing gold, winning silver, and the bronze medal mindset

13:51 — Red Vines, fat-free diets, and 90s athlete nutrition

17:24 — Dean Potter, Dark Wizard, and extreme sports culture

22:45 — Nicotine pouches, health washing, and wellness influence

27:34 — Our biggest takeaways from Stanford Healthy Aging

29:02 — Strength training, creatine, isometrics, and old cat syndrome

32:28 — Parenting, graduation, and figuring out how to cook for two