Rotations Feb. 12, 2009 - Getting Down with Sitting Volleyball in Houston

by Elliot Blake
Coordinator for Sitting Volleyball
USA Volleyball & the University of Central Oklahoma

It's amazing sometimes how a few individuals can make a big difference in the development of a simple sport.

The City of Houston's Parks and Recreation Department was awarded a grant last year to create a program designed to promote Paralympic sports to disabled veterans and athletes. To kickoff its programming, a multi-sport event was held on Jan. 17 in which sitting volleyball was the featured sport.

Two Sport Courts, measured specifically for sitting volleyball (not a full size court and then modified), were laid out, and I "rigged" the net system to create a competition net that was almost perfect in height and tension for official play. The parks department had enlisted seven teams to compete in the sitting volleyball tournament. The teams were comprised of firefighters, therapists, adult volleyball players, the women's team from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, and a group of wounded warriors from the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Six members of the U.S. Men's and Women's Paralympic Sitting Volleyball teams also participated by being placed individually on each team.

Play began at 9 a.m. in a double elimination bracket, continuing through 4 p.m. in the afternoon. Several athletes of other sports, family members, friends and spectators surrounded the courts to observe. For most, sitting volleyball was a sport they were not aware existed and, were in awe to see how simple it was to modify our game for the disabled population. Of course, it helped to demonstrate the true speed of the game by organizing a match of all six national team members versus the St. Thomas team. The national team members were never really challenged in the match, but it sure put on a good show as they took swings at full speed.

The St. Thomas team did go on to win the tournament in the end, but the true winner of the tournament was the game itself. Several of the players in the tournament did approach me at the end of the day to say how much fun they had playing the game, and were hoping to play again in the near future.

With sitting volleyball as such an unknown sport compared to other Paralympic sports like track & field and wheelchair basketball, it is events like these that can help propel us into more communities and gain new athletes. Whether it is corporate challenges, collegiate intramurals or some other multi-sport competition, sitting volleyball can easily be a sport that allows everyone, able-bodied and disabled, to play together and have fun hitting the ball.

So what I want to ask you is, when are you going to get down and play sitting volleyball?