V4C delivers specially supported coaching course with return to Pentecost communities

The year began started at a roaring pace for Volley4Change and its community-based social change development program, with many sessions delivered across several provinces. While the Port Vila V4C crew have been working hard on the 5-Wards initiative, which kicked off in March, VVFs senior development officer Stanley Toa made his way back to Pentecost Island and the communities visited with the V4C program, in early March.

Accompanying Stanley on this follow-up trip was a very special guest, international coach John Kessel (USA), a renowned volleyball coach, who spent more than three decades as the Director of Sport Development with USA Volleyball, and more importantly is a strong advocate for grassroots development and the education of local coaches. Kessel’s visit was facilitated as part of the FIVBs Knowledge Transfer Program, enabling him to be a part of the delivery of the Community Awards Coaching Course in regional Vanuatu.

This was not Kessel’s first trip to Vanuatu, having previously visited in 2009, connecting with VVF President Debbie Masauvakalo, who was at that stage in her early years with the federation. Having only been in and around Port Vila all those years ago, he admits to a much bigger adventure this time, heading north to visit remote communities on Pentecost Island.

Kessel also claims a particular personal affinity with the region, reflecting that he felt somewhat drawn to the Pacific, with awareness of volleyball as part of the island community culture in places like Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Samoa and American Samoa, New Zealand and Fiji and loving seeing basic courts everywhere and families just enjoying playing volleyball.

So, mid-March, Stanley and John set off north, experiencing a long boat ride to get them finally to the far side of Pentecost, ending up in the two remote communities previously visited by the V4C crew earlier this year (Bay Barrier & Pangi) to deliver a Community Coaching course.

Five days spent in Bay Barrier, before heading to Pangi in the second week, delivering sessions which covered everything from volleyball theory in the mornings, learning both attacking and defensive play, to how to set up a court on the sand using local materials and then putting those volleyball skills studied earlier, into practice on courts through the afternoon. Stanley also showed the participants how to develop and use a session plan as a coach, before a volleyball activity started.

When they moved across to the Pangi Area Council base, several nearby communities also participated in the course.

It was a major undertaking, with time also spent visiting some local schools following requests from sports teachers for support, as the word spread about the V4C presence.

For John Kessel, it was by all accounts a wonderful and impactful experience.

He said that coming to Vanuatu was a reinforcement of the need to recognise that (in volleyball) there is one level where you can assist, where the athleticism of the kids in Vanuatu might bring you two players who could compete at the Olympic level, but that it was more important to understand that that is not the only possibility. For instance, with the V4C program and its work in disability inclusion, shows that there are several different formats in which you can develop athletes to a high level.

Kessel is also a strong advocate for teaching local island communities that they can adapt the facilitation of volleyball to meet their needs, given the absence of sports facilities and purpose-built courts on the islands, and build their own ‘portable’ courts including for example, temporary erectable nets and line markings on beaches or around villages.

“In my role, and anybody in my position’s role, we need to be less the teacher or the coach and more the guide and help them discover and see how to change things”, he said.

Kessel noted that this included exposing them to examples of the broad range of volleyball experiences, formats and techniques via video examples, so as to open their minds to what’s possible and then leave those thoughts and impressions with them to develop the sport, the game, in their own communities.

In the days and weeks that followed, he was very pleased to hear, through feedback sent to Stanley, that the communities had continued their volleyball after the course, expanding beyond their own communities to include neighbouring communities and pass on the volleyball learnings including building courts, skills, playing the game and even officiating.

It’s through capacity building initiatives and opportunities like this that Pacific Island’s volleyball can grow both on the court with the development of athletes, but more particularly at the community level in regional and remote areas, where volleyball is already a favoured sport, but often impeded by lack of resources and capacity.