How to Make Volleyball FUN | Coaching Tips for Middle School Players with John Kessel

Making volleyball fun for elementary and middle school kids is critical to keeping them in the game. John Kessel, former Director of Sport Development at USA Volleyball, shares his expertise on how to adapt the game to more appropriately develop and challenge beginner players while ensuring it remains enjoyable. Kessel discusses the use of smaller courts and lower nets, involving older athletes in game play and teaching, ensuring the volleyball environment is a safe place to make errors and learn, and how to ensure players get plenty of repetition. 0:00 Developing your pipeline — why early start matters 1:40 Kids’ volleyball and learning environments 3:10 Teaching reading as volleyball’s top skill 6:45 Cooperative scoring and small-sided games 8:00 Encouraging mistake-making and safe exploration 10:20 Using rope nets and creative gym setups 15:00 How Japan and Thailand train elementary players 20:50 Triple ball and 2v2/3v3 development 27:00 Keeping nets up year-round to grow the game 34:00 Summary — feed the pipeline and coach the person