SITTING VOLLEYBALL – HOW TO GET INVOLVED!
Volleyball England have now finalised their 3-tiered player pathway with 10 Sitting Volleyball Centres across Great Britain. These centres will then lead through to an initiative called ‘Project Roehampton’ where all those on the Great Britain Development Programme will be able to access weekly training with the GB coaching staff and receive their support services. Above this is the Great Britain Sitting Volleyball Programme which will come together for camps from which we will pull squads for the major competitions. The programme is being set in preparation for the 2010 World Championships in America next July and then the European Championships in 2011 followed by the Paralympic Games in London 2012. This is your chance to get involved!
Aims of the Sitting Centres:
Each Centre will work closely with Volleyball England to deliver 4 main aims:
1. Establish a mixed group of able bodied and physically disabled individuals that is working towards training at least once a week through the season.
2. Work with a nominated qualified coach who is committed to developing their understanding of Sitting Volleyball.
3. Run an equitable and integrated programme that recruits players with the potential to go on and represent Great Britain.
4. Be prepared to host and enter a team into Volleyball England Sitting Volleyball National Competitions.
Contact details for the Great Britain Sitting Volleyball Centres:
| Centre Name | Contact Name | E-mail address... |
|---|---|---|
| East London Lynx | Karen Hung | Karen.Hung@morganstanley.com |
| Portsmouth Sitting Volleyball Club | Steve Bailey | Steve.Bailey919@NTLWorld.com |
| East Midlands Sitting Volleyball | Richard Stacey-Chapman | richard@eastmidlandsvb.co.uk |
| Kent Wyverns Sitting Volleyball | Tom Middleton | thomas@middleton2012.freeserve.co.uk |
| Surrey Sitting Volleyball | Freda Bussey | fredabussey@btinternet.com |
| Birmingham Sitting Volleyball | Graham Fowler | g.fowler@ubvc.co.uk |
| Essex Pirates | Ken Edwards | kenedwards2012@btinternet.com |
| Merseyside | currently Matt Rogers | m.rogers@volleyballengland.org |
| Wales - Cardiff | Anthony Hughes | Anthony.Hughes@fdsw.org.uk |
| Scotland - Glasgow | Dave Morgan | info@scottishvolleyball.org |
These centres then compete in the Sitting Volleyball Grand Prix Series. For more information please go to www.volleyballengland.org/sitting
What is ‘Project Roehampton?’
Volleyball England saw the link with a Higher Education institution as a crucial step for the continued development of the Great Britain Development Programme in preparation for London 2012. Roehampton University was not only ideally skilled but also well placed geographically to enable as many people as possible to benefit in the areas below:
1. Increasing Quantity and Quality of Training
At present the players train with their local club on a Wednesday and at the GB training camps at Kettering each month. The ultimate aim is to get to a point where all athletes are in daily training.
2. Establish the support of essential support services through a service provider that are run with continuity throughout both training and competition.
From Project Roehampton we are looking for a team of support staff to work over the following areas:
- Performance Analysis - skill acquisition and match analysis
- Strength and Conditioning – including nutritional advice
- Medical – screening, prehabilitation and rehabilitation; physios for competitions as well as availability at training sessions
Players will then be invited to become part of the Great Britain Programmes from which competition squads will be pulled.
For more information about anything to do with sitting please go to www.volleyballengland.org/sitting or contact Matt Rogers (m.rogers@volleyballengland.org).
COACHES
Although there are a number of distinct differences between the standing and sitting versions of the game a lot of the principals and the structure of the games is very similar.
The first step is to attend a Sitting Volleyball Awareness Workshop, for more information please click here.
Volleyball England are also working to develop a 'bolt on' for the UK Coaching Certificate Level 2 in the near future. For more information around Coaching please contact c.stott@volleyballengland.org.
REFEREES
For information about becoming a Sitting Volleyball Referee please click here..
To register your interest in becoming a Sitting Volleyball Referee please contact h.fairclough@volleyballengland.org .
Sitting Volleyball Referees and Line Judges at the Kent Internation Tournament, July 2009