The Sitting Volley Ball team is the newest team within The City of Salford Volleyball Club, which trains out of Irlam and Cadishead Leisure Centre. As the title of the game suggests, this is volleyball but the participants sit on the floor. Don't get fooled into thinking this is a sedentary sport. Half an hour of watching a game will dispel that myth as participants move and throw themselves around the court.
Originally sitting volleyball was a demonstration sport in the Para-Olympics in 1976, however, the notion that it is for people with physical impairments is wrong, as abled bodied people and people with impairments can share a court and game. The ground is indeed a leveller as the main difference between the games is that in sitting volley ball participants must keep one buttock on the ground.
More importantly, sitting volleyball is fun which can be seen from the faces of the participants. So much fun members of City of Salford Women's Volleyball team arrive early to their training every week to join in the sitting team's practice.
The idea of bringing a sitting volleyball team to the city has been the work of Graham Walker, an armed services veteran who saw the game at first hand when taking an amputee comrade to another club. At that point he thought to himself that he could get people playing the game in the city. And, with help from Salford CVS to get a small grant and affiliation within the Salford Volleyball Club, a team now exists.
Graham himself is waiting for knee reconstruction surgery and is an avid participant of this Olympic sport...
"It's basically about inclusion" he explains "If a person is unable to take part in active contact sport through illness or injury then this is the perfect opportunity. If does need an element of fitness and agility. But, it's a different agility; you're not jumping around on your legs. You're sat on the ground moving around and playing a ball up in the air using your arms.
"Some of our players are amputees, they find it excellent training and they get out of the house as well" he adds "They come from all over to play for this club as there are not many sitting volleyball clubs in the North West."
The team is currently made up of a mix of players with differing levels of experience, and some have only recently got involved with the club. Others such as Steve have more experience having played at different clubs. Steve is a triple amputee and is good enough to have represented Great Britain.
"The great thing about sitting volleyball, is that there are lots of abled body players as well" he says "It's not limited to any sort of disability. There are a lot of former standing volleyball players who find sitting a lot easier, especially when they get older. There are also a lot of standing volleyball players who play sitting in order to tighten up their skills"
Despite only being in existence for a relatively short period of time, the City of Salford Sitting Volleyball team are currently taking part in a nationwide Grand Prix tournament, involving a number of teams with an event in Kettering today at the National Volleyball Centre.
Teams participating with the City of Salford are East London Lynx, Essex Pirates, Help 4 Heros (A), Help 4 Heros (B), Lincoln Imps, Loughborough Fusion, Sheffield VC, Sitting Bucks, South Hants (A), South Hants (B) and Telford Eagles.*
The team is looking for more people to take part in the sport, and anyone is welcome to come down and give it a try..."I saw it played at the London Para-Olympics in 2012, and thought 'That would probably suit me' and then did nothing for a few years" Steve recalls "I eventually found a local team and here I am now."
He eventually got involved with the sport as, like a lot of people entering his thirties, he wanted to stay fit..."It's a really good sport for anyone to join in. Naturally being a team sport people compensate for others, I'm more mobile than some people but other people have two hands so we can all do different things."
Training is every Tuesday 7pm-8:20pm
Subs £3
Irlam & Cadishead Leisure Centre
Liverpool Road, Manchester M44 6BR
The team is looking for a local business to sponsor its kit.
For more details on how to get involved see the City of Salford Volleyball Club Facebook site – click here or the website - click here
For more photos see the full gallery at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmypGhKk
*We will update the results when we have them
Words and photos by Gareth Lyons
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