Sitting volleyball

Netherlands versus Japan women's match at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London

Sitting volleyball (sometimes known as paralympic volleyball) is a form of volleyball for athletes with a disability that entered the Paralympic Games as a demonstration sport for athletes with amputations in 1976 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and played as a medal sport thereafter.

Rules

Men's sitting volleyball match between a combined US Navy-Coast Guard team and the US Army

In sitting volleyball, a 0.8 meter-wide net is set at 1.15 meters high for men and 1.05 meters high for women. The court is 10 x 6 meters with a 2-meter attack line. Players must have at least one buttock in contact with the floor whenever they make contact with the ball. It is also possible to block the serve and jousts are generally replayed.^[1] Athletes with the following disabilities are eligible to compete in sitting volleyball: athletes with amputations, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, brain injuries and stroke. There are no athlete classifications by disability.^[2]

Skills are largely identical to the sport of volleyball and the following game terminology apply:

• Ace - A serve that lands in the opponent's court without being touched.
• Attack - An attempt by a player to win a point by hitting the ball over the net.
• Attack line - In indoor volleyball, a line three metres from the net which marks the limit for where a back-row player may advance to hit a ball from above the net.
• Back-row player - In indoor volleyball, any of three players positioned at the back of the court.
• Block - To block an opposing player from spiking the ball by jumping at the net with arms in the air.
• Boom - In beach volleyball, a spike straight down into the sand (slang).
• Centre line - In indoor volleyball, the imaginary line running directly under the net and dividing the court in half.
• Chuck - To push or throw the ball rather than hit it (slang).
• Court - The playing area.
• Crossing space - The zone above the net and between two antennae through which the ball must pass during a rally.
• Dig - A defensive move in which both arms are placed together in an attempt to bounce a hard-hit ball up into the air.
• End line - A back boundary line of the court.
• Facial - A boom or spike that hits an opponent in the face (slang).
• Fault - A foul or error which results in the loss of the rally.
• Front-row player - In indoor volleyball, any of three players positioned closest to the net.
• Front zone - In indoor volleyball, the area between the net and the attack line.
• Ground - To hit the ball to the ground, preferably on the other team's court.
• Heater - A hard-hit or spiked ball (slang).
• Hit - To touch the ball as an offensive player, one of three "hits" allowed a team in getting the ball back over the net.
• Hold - To let the ball settle into the hands briefly on a shot instead of releasing it immediately.
• Joust - A joust occurs above the net between two or more opposing players that forces the ball to become stationary. Point is replayed.
• Kill - To smash the ball overarm into the opponent's court; also called a "spike".
• Kong - A one-handed block, named after King Kong's style of swatting biplanes in the original King Kong movie (slang).
• Libero - In indoor volleyball, a substitute defensive player especially adept at digging.
• Lip - A good dig (slang).
• Match - A series of sets to determine a winner.
• Mintonette - The original name for volleyball.
• Missile - A spike or serve hit out of bounds (slang).
• Rally - The exchange of plays that decides each point.
• Rotate - In indoor volleyball, to move to the next position on the floor in a clockwise manner.
• Screen - To impede the opponent's view of the ball during the serve.
• Serve - The stroke used to put the ball in play at the start of each rally.
• Set - 1. The part of a match completed when one side has scored enough points to win a single contest. 2. To position the ball so a teammate can attack.
• Setter - A player who excels in setting up teammates to attack.
• Sideline - A side boundary line on a court.
• Spade - An ace (slang).
• Spike - To smash the ball overarm into the opponent's court; also called a "kill". Windmill Spike (hand movement during Spike follows motion of windmill).

Members

List also includes former members (national teams that took part in previous major tournaments).

List of sitting volleyball national teams[3]

Algeria  Argentina  Australia  Austria  Azerbaijan  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Burundi  Brazil  Canada  China  Colombia  Costa Rica  Croatia  Cuba  Democratic Republic of the Congo  Egypt  Great Britain  Finland  Germany  Greece  Hungary  Iran  Iraq  Italy  Japan  Kazakhstan  Kenya  Libya  Latvia  Lithuania  Mexico  Mongolia  Morocco  Myanmar  Netherlands  Norway  Poland  Russia  Rwanda  Serbia  Slovenia  Sri Lanka  Sweden  South Korea  United States  Ukraine Defunct national teams  Czechoslovakia  West Germany  Yugoslavia

Championships

Paralympics

Sitting volleyball was first demonstrated at the Summer Paralympic Games in 1976 and was introduced as a full Paralympic event in 1980. The 2000 was the last time standing volleyball appeared on the Paralympic programme. The women's sitting volleyball event introduction followed in the 2004.^[1]

At the 2016 Summer Paralympics the men's competition was won by Iran and the gold medal in the women's contest went to the United States.^[4]

WOVD World Championships

Men's Sitting - Past winners

^[5]

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1983	Delden	Netherlands	Germany	Finland
1985	Kristiansand	Iran	Yugoslavia	Netherlands
1986	Pécs	Iran	Hungary	Netherlands
1989	Las Vegas	Netherlands	Hungary	Germany
1990	Assen	Iran	Netherlands	Yugoslavia
1994	Bottrop	Iran	Norway	Netherlands
1998	Tehran	Iran	Finland	Bosnia and Herzegovina
2002	Cairo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Germany	Iran
2006	Roermond	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Iran	Egypt
2010	Edmond	Iran	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Egypt
2014	Elblag	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Brazil	Iran

ECVD European Championships

Men's Sitting - Past winners

^[5]

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1981	Bonn	Netherlands	Germany	Sweden
1987	Sarajevo	Netherlands	Yugoslavia
1991	Nottingham	Netherlands
1993	Järvenpää	Norway	Finland
1995	Ljubljana	Hungary
1997	Tallinn	Finland		Bosnia and Herzegovina
1999	Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Germany	Finland
2001	Sárospatak	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Germany
2003	Lappeenranta	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Germany	Finland
2005	Leverkusen	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Germany	Russia
2007	Nyíregyháza	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Russia	Germany
2009	Elblag	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Russia	Germany
2011	Rotterdam	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Russia	Germany
2013	Elblag	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Russia	Germany
2015	Warendorf	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Germany	Russia

See also

• Pieter Joon - World Organization Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) founder and former president
• Volleyball variations
• Volleyball at the Summer Paralympics
• Sitting volleyball classification

References

1. Ng, Kwok (2012). When Sitting is Not Resting: Sitting Volleyball. Bloomington, IL: Authorhouse. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-4772-1789-4.
2. "Medal Quest (PBS): Sitting Volleyball (2008)". Retrieved 2012-06-12.
3. http://www.worldparavolley.org/sitting-volleyball-rankings/
4. http://www.rio2016.com/paralympics/sitting-volleyball
5. Kwok Ng (26 September 2016). "Major Competitions". sittingvolleyball.omeka.net. Retrieved 26 September 2016.

External links

• VolleySlide
• Sitting volleyball on International Paralympic Committee website
• Beijing 2008 Paralympic Sitting Volleyball Information with an Australian slant from accessibility.com.au - includes nomination criteria for the 2008 Australian Paralympic Volleyball squad.