John Kessel Quotes

Less effort in this game makes more results.

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

I don't know if this is a stumbling block, but I had a real setback when I won a Nebula Award for the first story I ever had nominated for a Nebula in 1982. And you might think that was a good thing - and it was a wonderful thing, I don't regret it a bit. But I was sort of discombobulated by it.

Since my first encounter with Kafka's writing, I've been interested in a quality that, while he was alive, stood in the way of his achieving a large reputation: his allegory.

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.

The meaning of volleyball, is to give meaning to volleyball, as the meaning of coaching is to give meaning to coaching.

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

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

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

Teachers all over the nation are doing the job they are asked to do, but one they are not really prepared to do. To teach volleyball as a physical activity that is also a positive experience. If you care about volleyball, help these teachers have fun and learn more of this great game. Teach the teachers.

You can be harsh on your players and still coach, but it is easier when you are kind to them.

Use volleyball quotes to motivate your teammates to play hard.

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

You must allow your players to become the athletes they can be. Don't make them into anything just to become the kind of winners fans, friends and others think they must be.

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.

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

Ethics is for people with full bellies.

One of the influences of Kafka over later writers is not so much in the content of his work as in its form.

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

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

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.'

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

If there is something a coach might wish to see changed in a player or team, the first place to check and see if it could not be done better is in yourself.

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.

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

Study hard, practice hard, play ferociously.

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.

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.

Too many coaches have too big a mouth and not big enough ears.

Kafka is not interested in documenting the manners and mores of any particular place; he is not interested in probing the psyche of individual characters.

Trying simply provides an excuse for not doing.

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

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. -

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

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

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