JESSICA PAPELL

Jess Papell founded Prime Volleyball Club in 2012 and continues to oversee all aspects of the club. She has been the Head Varsity Coach at San Juan Hills High School for 7 seasons and has led the Stallions to 4 South Coast League Championships including 3 straight undefeated league championships from 2016-2018.

At Prime Jess has coached 6 different teams who have earned bids to compete at the USAV Junior National Championships including 4 gold medals at 4 different National Qualifiers in the USA and Liberty Divisions! Jess led her 2021 16 adidas squad to a gold medal finish at Volleyball Festival where they went undefeated with a 10-0 record and most recently, with Christy Stoeckel, she led 15 adidas Orange to a Gold Medal and bid to Junior National Championships in the 15 Liberty Division at the 2023 Mid-East Qualifier.

Jess currently coaches for the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program where she mentors top athletes from across the country at the NTDP Training Series events and has for the last decade. She has coached over 100 athletes who have gone on to play at the college level.

While at the helm of ITVC in Seattle, WA the club grew from 4 teams to 10 teams. The club had 4 teams qualify for the USAV Junior National Championships, 2 in the Open Division, for the first time in club history. She led her 2010 17s team to earn a bid in the Open Division of the Junior National Championships with a 5th place Open finish at the Far Western Qualifier.

"I love empowering our young female athletes to be leaders on and off the court. Educating athletes how to be their best when facing adversity through productive self talk and having a next play mentality is something I'm passionate about. I love giving athletes the technical instruction and tools that will help them grow and improve and nothing is better than seeing that moment when an athlete figures out something that they've been working at."

Prior to coaching, Jess started playing volleyball at a young age and became a four year varsity starter at the Windward School. Jess and her team won a CIF-SS Championship in 1994 and Jess was named the CIF-SS Player of the Year in 1994 and 1995. Jess went on to compete in the Pac-10 for the Oregon State Beavers from 1997-2001. She was a 4 Year Letterwinner, playing Outside Hitter and Defensive Specialist. Jess was selected to the Pac-10 All Academic team in 2000 and 2001. To top it all off, Jess is in the Top 10 in the Pac-10 for digs and aces per set and is also in the top 25 if the Oregon State record books for both career dig and aces. 

Jess has been coaching for over 25 years and has been the director of Prime ever since she founded the club in 2012.

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