Courtside
October 15, 2024
That is one in a sequence previewing the inductees going into the Worldwide Volleyball Corridor of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts, on Saturday.
This yr there are 9 inductees, two indoor gamers in Italian Andrea Zorzi and Cuba’s Regla Bell; two seaside gamers in American Tim Hovland and Brazilian Ana Paula Henkel; Brazilian coach Jose “Ze” Roberto and ParaVolley coach Hadi Rezaei of Iran; two officers in Argentinian Juan Angel Pereyra and American Sue Lemaire; and Italian Giuseppe Panini, who’s going in as a frontrunner.
There are additionally three particular honoree classes acknowledged this yr: John Kessel is receiving the Mintonette Medallion of Benefit Award; Invoice Kauffman and Ed Chan are being honored posthumously with the inaugural Award for Media Excellence; and Michael Kane, Mike Knapik, Aaron Vega and Don Humason are receiving the Mayoral Award of Excellence.
In in style tradition, there may be the cottage business sport centered across the “Six levels of Kevin Bacon.” It rests on the belief that anybody concerned within the Hollywood movie business could be linked by way of their movie roles to Bacon inside six steps.
Then there may be the volleyball equal, and that one is the “Six levels of John Kessel.” The true query, is, who within the volleyball WORLD, and I imply WORLD, shouldn’t be related indirectly, form or type to John Kessel??
John’s profession has been one devoted to service of the game. From taking part in, to teaching, to teaching coaches, to main roles with the FIVB, and USAV, to being a pioneer in ParaVolley, to working clinics in nearly 100 nations, Kessel is actually a volleyball treasure, who might not be cognizant of simply how a lot his contributions are valued by these within the sport.
“I used to be completely shocked,” he recalled when he obtained the induction name from IVHF. “I really feel like I selected a superb path to influence the world as I hoped.”
Boy did he ever!
Utilizing the phrase “influence” as he did within the quote above is kind of apropos for Kessel. In 1988, Invoice Neville, Mike Fleming and John obtained collectively for a few days to strive to determine the right way to discover a means the place good teaching wouldn’t merely be “an accident of delivery.” The consequence, a e-book entitled, “Elevated Mastery and Skilled Software of Teaching Principle,” IMPACT for brief. And in 35 years since publication, it has certainly made an influence, a significant one. Over a half million copies have been bought, and yearly John updates with one other version that includes the newest in new scientific discoveries yearly.
Kessel is obsessive about the science of studying.
“The science of HOW you study continues to be my focus,” Kessel mentioned. “How can we study quicker?” The peripatetic thoughts of Kessel by no means actually slows down, though he’s in his mid-70’s, an age when most individuals are “browsing it in.”
Not John. His newest venture/obsession is working passionately with the “Let’s Preserve the Ball Flying Basis,” which is creating an app to show aspiring volleyball coaches in creating nations.
“John Kessel is certainly a dwelling legend within the volleyball group,” mentioned Jon Aharoni, Founder and President of ICN Athletics. “His tireless work in adaptive volleyball, seaside volleyball, and the indoor sport has made a profound influence. By touring the globe, he has not solely nurtured grassroots growth, but in addition mentored elite athletes, guaranteeing that the spirit of volleyball reaches all corners of the world.”
Kessel grew up in Camarillo, California, earlier than matriculating to Colorado School in 1970. He obtained a really begin in teaching. At simply 18 he began the ladies’s membership group at Colorado School, and earlier than lengthy he was teaching each the boys’s and girls’s groups at his alma mater.
In 1975, John started to increase his repertoire, beginning summer time camps for youth gamers. After which, in accordance with Kessel, “I detoured out to educate coaches.” And, for, the following 50 years or so he has been doing simply that, all the time guided by the ideas of science. When you actually wish to get right into a full of life dialog with John simply spring the phrase “custom” on him. He rails towards that phrase, breaks out within the eponymous tune from “Fiddler on the Roof,” the minute he hears the “T” phrase, and his philosophies are all the time geared in the direction of difficult “established” norms.
Kessel has finished so many issues in our sport that it could take a big tome to recount the accomplishments. Together with that he has many, many scrumptious tales which have gone together with a life devoted to volleyball. Nevertheless, one does stick out when it comes to ingenuity.
John was the game producer for indoor volleyball on the Olympic Summer time Video games in Atlanta in 1996. The gold-medal match was epic, Italy towards the Netherlands, and it was going to a fifth and deciding set (See our article on 2024 IHOF inductee Andrea Zorzi). The President of the IOC on the time, Juan Antonio Samaranch, was supposed handy out the awards to the gold, silver and bronze medalists. Ruben Acosta, the president of the FIVB on the time, got here to John in the beginning of the fifth set in a panic.
“John you have to do one thing,” Acosta mentioned. “Juan Antonio should depart quickly to current the Olympic marathoners their medals,” on the Closing Ceremonies. John responded to this strain cooker of a scenario, one way or the other a way by commandeering a helicopter on the final minute, and saving the day. Each the volleyball AND the marathon medalists obtained their medals from El Presidente. It’s not simple to get a helicopter actually on the final minute, on the final day of the Olympic Video games. However John did it. By no means wager towards this man!
In fact, there’s a postscript to this story. Because of the size of that Olympic gold-medal match, 2 hours, 31 minutes, Acosta became a person on a mission to get away from the unpredictable lengths of matches. For sure, Kessel, taking a scientific method, after all, advocated for the rally-scoring mannequin, and was capable of give you the science to assist it. First 4 video games to 25 factors and the fifth to fifteen. By no means ought to a match take greater than two hours. Acosta was bought, and the sport was modified without end.
As soon as once more Kessel at the forefront of transferring the game ahead.
John was additionally a pioneer within the growth of ParaVolley, and serving to it develop to its lofty present standing.
“His position with World ParaVolley has been instrumental in elevating sitting volleyball to a acknowledged and celebrated sport throughout the Paralympic motion,” Aharoni mentioned. “The optimistic results of his dedication are evident within the lives of each athlete who has participated in sitting volleyball, and his contributions have set a powerful basis for future generations. John’s humility and dedication to serving underserved communities showcase his outstanding character.”
The love of volleyball can’t be contained in a single era of Kessel’s. John has a souvenir image of his father spiking the ball taking part in seaside doubles in 1947. And, within the “apple doesn’t fall too removed from the tree” class, John’s son, Cody, was on the 30-man USA Nationwide Group roster for the 2024 VNL season. Cody, a 2015 Princeton graduate, was additionally the youngest participant to ever win the championship within the Open Division on the prestigious MotherLode seaside volleyball match in Aspen, the place he received the title in 2014.
On the Worldwide Volleyball Corridor of Fame ceremony Saturday, John is being introduced with the “Mintonette Medallion of Benefit” award. “Mintonette” was the unique title given for volleyball, when William G. Morgan based the game in 1895. No different award title might match John fairly as properly as “Mintonette,” as a result of he really is a, if not, THE, volleyball “unique.”
For extra about Saturday’s induction celebration and/or to purchase tickets: https://www.volleyhall.org/induction-celebration.html
When you can’t make it, watch stay: https://www.youtube.com/@ivhfofficial
