Courtside
October 15, 2024
This is one in a series previewing the inductees going into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts, on Saturday.
This year there are nine inductees, two indoor players in Italian Andrea Zorzi and Cuba’s Regla Bell; two beach players in American Tim Hovland and Brazilian Ana Paula Henkel; Brazilian coach Jose “Ze” Roberto and ParaVolley coach Hadi Rezaei of Iran; two officials in Argentinian Juan Angel Pereyra and American Sue Lemaire; and Italian Giuseppe Panini, who is going in as a leader.
There are also three special honoree categories recognized this year: John Kessel is receiving the Mintonette Medallion of Merit Award; Bill 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 popular culture, there is the cottage industry game centered around the “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon.” It rests on the assumption that anyone involved in the Hollywood film industry can be linked through their film roles to Bacon within six steps.
Then there is the volleyball equivalent, and that one is the “Six degrees of John Kessel.” The real question, is, who in the volleyball WORLD, and I mean WORLD, is not connected in some way, shape or form to John Kessel??
John’s career has been one dedicated to service of the sport. From playing, to coaching, to coaching coaches, to major roles with the FIVB, and USAV, to being a pioneer in ParaVolley, to running clinics in almost 100 countries, Kessel is literally a volleyball treasure, who may not be cognizant of just how much his contributions are valued by those in the sport.
“I was totally shocked,” he recalled when he got the induction call from IVHF. “I feel like I chose a good path to impact the world as I hoped.”
Boy did he ever!
Using the word “impact” as he did in the quote above is quite apropos for Kessel. In 1988, Bill Neville, Mike Fleming and John got together for a couple of days to try to figure out how to find a way where good coaching would not simply be “an accident of birth.” The result, a book entitled, “Increased Mastery and Professional Application of Coaching Theory,” IMPACT for short. And in 35 years since publication, it has indeed made an impact, a major one. Over a half million copies have been sold, and every year John updates with another edition featuring the latest in new scientific discoveries every year.
Kessel is obsessed with the science of learning.
“The science of HOW you learn is still my focus,” Kessel said. “How do we learn faster?” The peripatetic mind of Kessel never really slows down, although he is in his mid-70’s, an age when most people are “surfing it in.”
Not John. His latest project/obsession is working passionately with the “Let’s Keep the Ball Flying Foundation,” which is creating an app to teach aspiring volleyball coaches in developing countries.
“John Kessel is indeed a living legend in the volleyball community,” said Jon Aharoni, Founder and President of ICN Athletics. “His tireless work in adaptive volleyball, beach volleyball, and the indoor game has made a profound impact. By traveling the globe, he has not only nurtured grassroots development, but also mentored elite athletes, ensuring that the spirit of volleyball reaches all corners of the world.”
Kessel grew up in Camarillo, California, before matriculating to Colorado College in 1970. He got a very start in coaching. At just 18 he started the women’s club team at Colorado College, and before long he was coaching both the men’s and women’s teams at his alma mater.
In 1975, John began to expand his repertoire, starting summer camps for youth players. And then, according to Kessel, “I detoured out to coach coaches.” And, for, the subsequent 50 years or so he has been doing just that, always guided by the principles of science. If you really want to get into a lively conversation with John just spring the word “tradition” on him. He rails against that word, breaks out in the eponymous song from “Fiddler on the Roof,” the minute he hears the “T” word, and his philosophies are always geared towards challenging “established” norms.
Kessel has done so many things in our sport that it would take a large tome to recount the accomplishments. Along with that he has many, many delicious stories that have gone along with a life dedicated to volleyball. However, one does stick out in terms of ingenuity.
John was the sport producer for indoor volleyball at the Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996. The gold-medal match was epic, Italy against 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 at the time, Juan Antonio Samaranch, was supposed to hand out the awards to the gold, silver and bronze medalists. Ruben Acosta, the president of the FIVB at the time, came to John at the start of the fifth set in a panic.
“John you must do something,” Acosta said. “Juan Antonio must leave soon to present the Olympic marathoners their medals,” at the Closing Ceremonies. John responded to this pressure cooker of a situation, somehow some way by commandeering a helicopter at the last minute, and saving the day. Both the volleyball AND the marathon medalists received their medals from El Presidente. It is not easy to get a helicopter literally at the last minute, on the last day of the Olympic Games. But John did it. Never bet against this man!
Of course, there is a postscript to this story. Due to the length of that Olympic gold-medal match, 2 hours, 31 minutes, Acosta turned into a man on a mission to get away from the unpredictable lengths of matches. Needless to say, Kessel, taking a scientific approach, of course, advocated for the rally-scoring model, and was able to come up with the science to support it. First four games to 25 points and the fifth to 15. Never should a match take more than two hours. Acosta was sold, and the game was changed forever.
Once again Kessel at the leading edge of moving the sport forward.
John was also a pioneer in the development of ParaVolley, and helping it grow to its lofty current status.
“His role with World ParaVolley has been instrumental in elevating sitting volleyball to a recognized and celebrated sport within the Paralympic movement,” Aharoni said. “The positive effects of his dedication are evident in the lives of every athlete who has participated in sitting volleyball, and his contributions have set a strong foundation for future generations. John’s humility and commitment to serving underserved communities showcase his remarkable character.”
The love of volleyball cannot be contained in one generation of Kessel’s. John has a keepsake picture of his father spiking the ball playing beach doubles in 1947. And, in the “apple does not fall too far from the tree” category, John’s son, Cody, was on the 30-man USA National Team roster for the 2024 VNL season. Cody, a 2015 Princeton graduate, was also the youngest player to ever win the championship in the Open Division at the prestigious MotherLode beach volleyball tournament in Aspen, where he won the title in 2014.
At the International Volleyball Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday, John is being presented with the “Mintonette Medallion of Merit” award. “Mintonette” was the original name given for volleyball, when William G. Morgan founded the sport in 1895. No other award name could fit John quite as nicely as “Mintonette,” because he truly is a, if not, THE, volleyball “original.”
For more about Saturday’s induction celebration and/or to buy tickets: https://www.volleyhall.org/induction-celebration.html
If you can’t make it, watch live: https://www.youtube.com/@ivhfofficial
