"My Dinner With John"....

In 2002, the Arizona Region sent their second High Performance delegation to Park City, Utah. Earlier in the year it was the site of several events in the XIX Winter Olympics. On a tour of the facility, some coaches got together and paid an exorbitant fee out of pocket to spend 34 seconds screeching down a highway of ice in a 4 man bobsled. Expensive, short lived but thrilling nonetheless, the coaches knew they would never have that opportunity again, and so they jumped on it.

Opportunities like that live in the rarefied air.

Last Wednesday, a handful of coaches took advantage of an opportunity they may never see again. USAV Director of Growth John Kessel agreed to a dinner with coaches to talk, answer questions and share ideas and knowledge.

Jesse McKinley is a 12’s coach in the Region. He came looking for answers.

“I had some ideas and thoughts reaffirmed after talking with John.  It challenged my philosophy of coaching and really strengthened my passion to coach 12's.  I'm ready to teach my players to ‘be slimy’ and to guide their self-discovery more at practice and to get them playing more to learn and grow as competitive volleyball players.”

Scott Lungren has been a coach for many years with several clubs and he took this gem away from the evening:

“Serving practices with serve receive on the other side of the net equals twice the touches on the ball! I divided my team in half, and had them serve all of the balls, then switched the servers and the receivers. Also, I use radar a lot, now I use radar with server receive while still giving them a zone.”

Tonya Lee is a high school indoor, sand AND club coach and she got much out of the evening.

“I LOVED IT! Reflecting on it, I can relate a lot of his philosophies with what I do day to day. Not only volleyball, but also in my classroom as a teacher. In my PE class I usually do 2 week units and have 1 week ‘drills’ and 1 week tournament but after dinner, I am trying to incorporate more real situations to the basics of each unit. I also liked how he emphasized to play in the ‘Gold Zone’, how to always try to shoot area 1 and 2. We need to get our players to up their volleyball IQ, and most of the time the weak side is that right side of the court.”

Kessel also enjoyed the opportunity to interact in a casual atmosphere at Majerle’s Sports Bar and Grill in downtown Phoenix. “I sure enjoyed the evening and I think the 5 coaches did too.”

Opportunities like this are rare and the Region does what it can to provide as many of them as possible. The chance to share a dinner with Kessel or clinics with Olympians might be tough to navigate: rearranging schedules, getting babysitters, etc. But these are the opportunities that come along once in a coaching lifetime.

Don’t let your opportunities slip away. Jump on the bobsled and smell the air…

Coming up soon, Commissioner Harold Cranswick’s reflections of “My Dinner with John.”