A time to be reminded of past resolutions, an opportunity to renew those resolutions, and an opportunity to make new ones.

1.  Lead a healthier lifestyle, both mentally and physically. Continue Reading

- John Kessel, USA Volleyball Director of Membership Development and Disabled Programs

The Best Gifts for a Volleyball Player

Around the world, not just in America, parents ask me what gifts they can give their child to help them improve in volleyball. Some of them want take their child to the next level, while others want to help their child who was disappointingly cut from their first or next level of a volleyball program. I think the best gifts for a volleyball player are these: (1) the gift of Play, (2) the gift of Continue Reading

Create a Personal Board of Directors

Mentorship is often touted as one of the primary means of furthering your career. But traditional one-on-one mentoring relationships may be a thing of the past. In today’s quickly changing world, you need a personal board of directors — a group of people you consult regularly to get advice and feedback. Continue Reading

At the AVCA Convention, I listened to a presentation by Russ Rose and Terry Liskevych titled: What We have Learned in 75+ Years of Coaching. Besides it being quite comical, Russ and Terry provided some great insight into how the sport has changed from Continue Reading

This past week in Kansas City at the AVCA Convention and Final Four was thoroughly enjoyable.  It was 24 hours of volleyball.  Blissful.

Even though volleyball is one of the most popular sports in the world, we, in the United States, are fortunate it has not blown-up yet (it will).  It provides us the accessibility for legends Continue Reading

Today is the day of my first presentation at the AVCA Convention here in cold Kansas City, MO.  The presentation starts at 4:30 (CST) in Room KCCC 2503AB.  The topic is AVCA Convention 101: What Every First-Time Attendee Needs to Know.  My intention is to make this the best convention experience for you.

Even if you have attended the convention before, it wouldn’t hurt to have your input for the new-comers as well as make them feel welcome on this initially overwhelming experience. (I believe I already have a couple returning conventioneers in the crowd to heckle me).

Come meet the newest members of the AVCA Convention!

The most wonderful time of the volleyball year! After a great weekend of sweet sixteen and elite eight matches, it leads to the AVCA Convention, held in Kansas City this year, and the Final Four matches.  The year of volleyball parody is evident with only one of the top four seeds making it into the Final Four.  Should we be surprised it’s Penn State?  We should stop doubting Russ Rose and his ability to coach and recruit, but Continue Reading

It’s bad enough the NCAA posts lousy pictures of players, but Indiana decided to feature this picture of their own Ashley Benson on the news story of their win over Miami last night.

Is this supposed to be an intense pose?

Seriously, could the NCAA not find a better picture than this for their introduction page on the first day of the tournament?

It was fun to watch a number of matches online at one time.  Although some webstreaming coverage was not as clear as others, I appreciate being able to watch any match I wanted and for free.  I look forward to doing it again tonight.  Second round matches start at 3:30 EST today.

Here is a link to the NCAA Volleyball website: http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2010/ncaa_bracket_DI_volleyball_women.html It helps if you have Adobe Flash installed.  Click on the “In Progress” tab and then click on the little camera icon next to the school you want to watch.  Enjoy!

6 months after the catastrophic BP Oil rig explosion and the worst oil spill in history, the world has already forgotten that dreadful incident.  On November 20th, exactly 6 months to the day the rig exploded, I took a picture of a jammed BP Gas Station.  Its not like this was the only gas station around, I took the picture from across the street at a competitor’s station.  Did the American public already forget what happened six months ago or does the American public even care?  I am still under the philosophy that if it does not immediately impact or directly inconvenience us in some way, we do not act. Continue Reading