The Origin of Volleyball

While a game which somewhat resembled volleyball was being played in England as far back as 1591, it was only in 1895 that the American William G. Morgan developed a game, which was to be the predecessor of our present-day volleyball.

Spread by the U.S. troops and the YMCA, this sport which had meanwhile gained some momentum, reached the rest of the world.

The start of Sport for the Disabled

Sir (then Doctor) Ludwig Guttmann - Neurologist and Neurosurgeon - emigrated with his family to England in March 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. At the beginning of 1944, while he was doing research at Oxford University, he was asked by the British Government to set up a Spinal Injury Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. At this institute, he put into practice unique ideas of treatment and rehabilitation of spinal cord paralysed patients - hitherto regarded as hopeless and helpless cripples with only a short expectation of life. That he was successful in establishing a spinal cord injury service, a model to the whole world, is a matter of history. But there was a particular aspect of his philosophy and foresight that was to have far-reaching influence on the lives, not only of spinal cord paralysed persons, but to many other types of disabled persons all over the world.

Sir Ludwig Guttmann used to say: "If I ever did one good thing in my medical career, it was to introduce sport into the treatment and rehabilitation programme of spinal cord sufferers and other severely disabled".

In 1948, the first Stoke Mandeville Games were held with a participation of 16 paralysed wheelchair competitors in archery. The Games became "International" in 1952 with the participation of a Dutch team of war veterans.

Sitting Volleyball

The first sports club for the disabled was established in the Netherlands only as late as 1953. Athletics and Sitzball - originating from Germany - were the main sports. Soon it was found that Sitzball, which is played sitting down on the floor, was too passive; more mobile forms of sports were looked for.

In 1956, the Dutch Sports Committee introduced a new game called Sitting Volleyball, a combination of sitzball and volleyball. Since then Sitting Volleyball has grown into one of the biggest sports practised in competition not only by the disabled in the Netherlands, but also by interested "able-bodied" volleyball players with an injury of the ankle or knee.

Development

Since 1967, international competitions have taken place, but we had to wait until 1978 before the International Sports Organisation for the Disabled (ISOD) accepted Sitting Volleyball in its programme.

The first official International Tournament - under the umbrella of the ISOD - took place in 1979 in Haarlem (the Netherlands).

In 1980, it was accepted as a Paralympic Sport with the participation of seven teams.

The international development can be called tumultuous. Clinics have been held all over the world and regular World, European and Regional Championships are organised annually.

Since 1993, Sitting Volleyball championships are organised for men and women.

It has become one of the main team-sports in the Paralympic Programme. It is a fast, exciting and crowd pleasing sport, which can show the athletic skills of disabled sportsmen and women.

Sitting Volleyball has the potential to grow into a sport in which the disabled and non-disabled persons can play on a high technical level.

Standing Volleyball

Standing Volleyball was played by disabled sportsmen long before the International Federation was founded. It has its roots in Great Britain and was originally only played by amputees. Due to the variations of amputation, a classification system was set up and players were put into one of nine categories. To encourage those with a more severe amputation to participate, a point system on court was introduced - each player received points for the degree of amputation - and 13 points was the minimal team requirement on court.

In 1984, it was decided to open up the game to allow other disability groups to take part, thereby encouraging more nations to participate. Although this initially created more classification problems, the WOVD finally, after four years, established criteria for classification, which includes those players with various arm or leg disabilities.

Development

Small international competitions have taken place since the 1960s, although it was not until 1976 before volleyball was accepted into the Paralympic Programme in Toronto. Since 1980, volleyball has had a regular international calendar.

Copyright ©1997 WOVD

1. The court is smaller — 10m x 6m (2m attack zone)
2. The net is lower — 1.15m for men and 1.05m for women
3. Players must remain seated on court during play including spiking
4. Service can be blocked
5. The passage of play is quicker due to reduced court size and flatter trajectory of attacks

 Sitting Volleyball in England

Sitting volleyball is an adapted game for people with disabilities, it has enjoyed full Paralympic status since 1980, with a Great Britain Team competing at the highest level until 1991.  The game is an excellent vehicle for players returning from injury during rehabilitation.

The game ceased to exist in the UK in 1991, except on a small recreational scale in East Kent. As part of an effort to promote the game in Kent, Kent Sports Development Unit (KSDU) has purchased a purpose made transportable Taraflex floor for Sitting Volleyball, the only one of its type in the UK. Since then more have been purchased.

During 2005 a number of demonstration events were held notably in Kent assisted by the purchase of floor and posts. In January 2006 two new clubs were formed "Sitius Pent Valley" in Folkestone and "Sitz in the City" at Canterbury High School. These initiatives were recognised by the British Volleyball Federation and a Paralympic summit was held in Loughborough for interested parties hosted by Volleyball England. As a result a British Volleyball Federation working group was established, chaired by Gordon Neale (CEO Disability Sport England) to develop both participation and elite squads in preparation for 2012.

Taster sessions have been run in Essex, Suffolk and Cambs, demonstration events run at National Finals in Sheffield in April 2006 and a number of other festivals and regular training established including the London Lynx Sitting Volleyball Club based at Mile End which has become the base for the British Volleyball Federation SV Development Squad.  This group has competed in Hamburg and in September 2007 attended the Europeans in Hungary.

Much of this promotional and development activity has been actively supported by members of the Volleer Club, based in Holland whose coach (Joze Banfi) and players some of whom were in the Dutch women’s team who were 2004 Paralympic silver medallists and World champions in 2006.  Joze has since become the Interim head Coach to the GB sqaud.

During all this time England has retained strong representation of referees in Steve Walton and Maciej Chodzko-Zajko amongst the best in the world.  In August 2007 Sheffield hosted a WOVD/ECVD Referee and Classifier courses which were attended by two English referees.

Web sites

• World Organisation for Volleyball for the Disabled www.wovd.info/
  European Committee Volleyball for the Disabled http://www.ecvd.hu/  
• Volleyball England http://www.volleyballengland.org/Sitting_Volleyball/index.php   has a dedicated Sitting Volleyball Section.
• www.sittingvolleyball.co.uk Carries British Volleyball Federation and general participation news. 

Comment