#286 John Kessel, Former USA Volleyball Director of Sport Development: "Lines Teach You How but the Game Teaches You Why!"

John Kessel (@JohnKesselUSAV) is the recently retired Director of Sport Development for USA Volleyball and one of the most sought after coach educators and sport developers in the world. John has been coaching since 1971 at the collegiate level or above, including Women’s U.S. Open titles in 1986 & 1987, Disabled Programs, USA Deaf Olympic Teams, Starlings USA, National Parks and Recreation Assoc., the YMCA and over 30 other Affiliated Organizations working with USAV. He was Secretary of the NORCECA Technical and Coaches Commission, and Director of Development for World ParaVolley. He was Team Leader for the 2000 USA Olympic Beach Volleyball Teams in Sydney, which brought home one gold medal, and for the 2004 USA Paralympic Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team in Athens, which came home with the bronze medal. In 1995, Volleyball Magazine’s special Centennial issue named him one of the 50 most important people in the sport in the past 100 years. In 2013 the American Volleyball Coaches Association inducted him as their 60th member of the AVCA Coaches Hall of Fame.. A sought after international lecturer, he has conducted seminars in all 50 states, and in over 50 nations.

In our discussion, first released in August 2017, John and John discuss the need for coaches to be vulnerable, adaptable, and always learning. As the opening quote of the podcast says, if your doctor practiced medicine the same way he or she did 5 years ago, it would be malpractice, yet why do so many coaches still coach the way they were coached 20-30 years ago? We discuss teaching through the game, why our parents did not hire a bike riding coach, and so much more. Get ready to take some notes!

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