John Kessel Quotes

Volleyball is like going to church ... many attend, but few understand.

Coaching is something that takes place only when learning does. No matter what you are doing in your practices, if your players are not learning something significant, you're really not coaching. If a player fails in a game, the coach may have failed in practice.

Profit by your own mistakes and profit by the mistakes of others. The referees were calling ball handling violations like they were getting commissions.

You cannot turn your winning attitude on when you think you 'need it.' You must work on it every day, every practice, every match - win or lose. Focus on playing to win, not playing to lose, for there is a season of difference between the two.

There are three choices in life and sport - either you do it, you don't do it or you think about it. Most humans think about it. We will do it.

Play your heart out each game, so you can look your teammates in the eyes and ask, without saying it, 'I played full out, did you?'

Never mishandle hope or self-confidence - those are elements of life, not just a game.

Good players win volleyball games for you, not tall players.

Never back down, never fear anyone, for the best opponents will help you to play your best.

Too many players are so afraid to do anything that they seldom venture to do anything.

Most of us are referees at heart; we like to call throws and errors on someone else.

Being left-handed has its advantages in volleyball. Few people know enough about your spike and serve to give you advice.

The pessimistic coach complains about the play. The optimistic coach expects it to change. The realistic coach adjusts what he can control.

An advantage to volleyball is that you have a scoreboard to tell how you have done as a team. The thing is, in life there is no scoreboard, at least not one that you can see.

Never underestimate your players; they can do it with enough game-like practice. Coaches must put more emphasis in practice and in life on making student-athletes aware of what they could or can do, rather than what they couldn't or presently can't do. The focus must be on solutions, not problems; what is wanted, not what is feared.

Nothing makes a player more productive than the last minute.

Volleyball rules are simple. If it is on the floor, pick it up and get it into the air. If it is in the air, keep it off the floor. —

The sport of volleyball will never give you something that you can't handle; whether you do handle it is another question.

Focus on winning the contest with yourself.

Less effort in this game makes more results.

In volleyball there are many reasons for errors but not a single excuse.

No jockey ever won a race by carrying the horse across the finish line; no coach ever won a volleyball match by touching the ball during play.

Players need you to care, especially when they do not deserve it.

Use volleyball quotes to motivate your teammates to play hard.

Ethics is for people with full bellies.

False teammates are like our shadows. They keep close to us when we are all walking in the sunshine, but they are gone the instant we just go into the shade, let alone the darkness.

If you are serious about volleyball, the only months to stop playing are those without a vowel.

Trying simply provides an excuse for not doing.

The wise coach takes all the heat when his players lose, and gives them all the credit when they win.

Study hard, practice hard, play ferociously.

A coach must sometimes see players with his heart, and hear them with his eyes.

It's hard for these athletes to stay healthy. They are constantly being bombarded with unhealthy advertising. Peer pressure can override the body's demand for health. Being healthy goes beyond 'not being sick' (where all lab reports indicate health), to feeling optimistic, energetic, strong and happy with their bodies. Teaching them to take charge of their bodies is a job of coaching. Help them gain discipline in conditioning, nutrition and attitude/emotional control.

Make your mistakes with confidence. It is the only way you are going to learn anything. Never be afraid to do a skill, no matter how simple or hard it may seem someone has done it, and so can you, With enough committed practice and confidence.

You have to learn every day. You can't be playing every day, but you can be practicing. If you cannot be practicing with a net and others daily, you still can be learning about the game by reading, watching and imaging. You must learn every day, if you want to be a real volleyball player. —

There are two basic situations in volleyball - either you got the ball or you don't.

It is ok to err, but it is not ok to stop playing; it is ok to lose, but it is not ok to give up.

There is no such thing as 'staying in shape;' you either work to get better, or you allow yourself to get worse.

Think positive, real volleyball happens too fast to think any other way.

Kids on a team are like flowers in a bouquet, there is always one that wants to face a different way than the arranger desires.

There is nothing less important in life than the score after one game of a two out of three game match.

Perform the best you can for when you find that you perform your best, there is still so much more in volleyball to do better, harder, faster, and smarter. It is just like when you go for a long journey. You go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you can see farther.

Work hard - beat out half the team. Be committed, play fair as a team player - Beat out another quarter of the team. The last quarter is your desire and beliefs, and where you are playing.

Don't ask yourself what you did wrong; ask yourself what you did right.

The kind of player who has turned his game around, he used to be lousy and lazy and now he is lazy and lousy.

Shared victory is a double victory, shared defeat is half-defeat.

Alter strategies and tactics, but never your principles.

I am here to give my players the little push they need, just like they needed long ago, when first learning the art of the swing. All you needed then was a little push, and quickly you were pumping away, flying higher and higher, without any more help from the 'coach.'

Coaches must be flexible, for then they won't get bent out of shape.

Most volleyball players are made in the winter, spring and summer, for come fall, everyone practices equal time.

Coaches need to have the ability of tact - to teach the team to rub out mistakes rather than to rub them in.