Have you ever heard of sitting volleyball? Contrary to what people think, people do not need a manual wheelchair to play.
Players are sitting on the ground and they only use their arms when moving. Do you want to know more about this practice? We invite you then to read this detailed article and discover how sitting volleyball is played.
Small history of sitting volleyball
In order to talk about the origin of this parasport practice, we need to go back to the second world war. The sitting version of volleyball was indeed created in 1943. It was at first created to rehabilitate imputed soldiers or people who were wounded at the level of their lower limbs. They played the game sitting on the ground and had to send the ball into the opponent’s side of the pitch to score a point.
Over the years, veterans continued to play and the discipline gained in popularity while improving.
Today, sitting volley ball is played all around the world. Let’s see what the rules of this sport are.
Sitting volleyball: the rules within competitions
This practice is regulated by the volleyball international federation
In France, it is the French volleyball federation which is responsible of the development of the game. What exactly are the rules?
Each team is composed of 6 players. To win a game, a team has to win 3 sets and each set is won by scoring 25 points.
A team scores if:
- The ball lands on the opposing side of the field;
- The opposing team commits a foul.
The ball used in this sport weighs between 260 and 280g. It has a circumference of 65 to 67cm.
Sitting volleyball is played on a flat and uniform pitch. Players suffering from a disability are sitting. The net which goes across the field is 80cm-high. In competitions, the pitch is 6 meters-wide and 10-meters long.
Different sitting volleyball categories
This parasport discipline is opened to everyone. Players play in different categories depending on their disability.
The VS1 category
This category gathers imputed players who miss lower limbs or their forearm. The also generally have a prothesis.
In addition, they are often quite tall and have great technical skill which allows them to compensate for the presence of their disability.
The VS2 category
Athletes play in the VS2 category if:
- They lost muscular strength in their lower limbs;
- They have limited joint range in their ankle.
In an official competition, each team cannot have more than one athlete playing in the VS2 category.
It has to be known that people suffering from a vision-related disability cannot play sitting volleyball.
In any case, athletes competing in this sport must have a good physical condition. They indeed sport great strength in their upper body. It also demands exceptional stamina and well-developed coordination and agility.
The latest world championships that took place in 2023 allowed for the showcase of the dynamism and fighting spirit of the biggest players on an international scale. Outside of international competitions, sitting volleyball will have another shot at making history: the 2024 Paris games.
A sport present at the 2024 Paris paralympic games
It was not until 1976 that sitting volleyball was introduced for the first time at the Paralympic games.
4 years later, it became part of the masculine sport lineup in Arnhem. Finally, and since the Athens Paralympic games in 2004, sitting volley ball counts masculine and feminine teams.
Sitting volleyball is part of the paralympic sport lineup for the edition in Paris, just like archery. The competition in this parasport discipline is going to be intense with a gold medal on the horizon.
The 2024 Paris Paralympic games offer indeed the opportunity for exceptional athletes to perform on a worldwide stage. This dynamic team sport showcases the athletes’ agility and coordination in front of millions of spectators.
Sitting volleyball perfectly embodies the values of sport and inclusion. It allows to push beyond the physical limits. For more information, you can visit the French sitting volleyball federation website.
If you want to know more about other parasport, you can follow PlayMoovin’s blog where we regularly shine a light on other parasport practices.
And if you are looking for a safe and robust sport wheelchair to play your favourite sport, call us!
