#SittingVolleyball is one of the most entertaining Paralympic sports and it is getting increasing attention for being an exciting, fast game, and for its potential to be a tool for positive social change. The following sections of this VolleySLIDE Resource work through every element of the sport: What is it all about? – The history and rules Finding the Floor – Suitable spaces and equipment Starting to Slide – How to sit and move Player and Ball – Volleying/Setting/Digging/Defending Power Play –Attacking/Spiking/Blocking/Serving Game Play – Competition options and Talent ID © VolleySLIDE 2013 What is it all about? – The history and rules Finding the Floor – Suitable spaces and equipment Starting to Slide – How to sit and move Player and Ball – Volleying/Setting/Digging/Defending Power Play –Attacking/Spiking/Blocking/Serving Game Play – Competition options and Talent ID © VolleySLIDE 2013 Some people are naturally more competitive than others, but one thing that is the same for everyone is that having a purpose for doing something increases their commitment, enjoyment and satisfaction when doing it. Sport is no different and scoring provides a framework for competition that can help determine the better team. The challenge is that this can result in some players doing whatever it takes to win, sometimes even cheating. It can also often negate the longer term development needs, concepts and principles of the participants. To oversee fair competition and application of the rules, sport uses Referees. Here is some guidance for ‘Set’ and ‘Match’ options: 1 full set to 25 points takes on average around 22 minutes. Level of participants No. of points in a set No. of sets In a match Beginners 11 1 Mildly experienced 15 in all 3 (changing end when the first team gets to 8 in the 3rd set) 3 Intermediates 25 in the first 2, then 15 in the 3rd (changing ends at 8 in the 3rd) 3 Experienced 25 in the first 4, then 15 in the 5th (changing ends at 8 points) 5 Practice (aka studying) success is met with matches and tournaments (aka testing), and there will always be a regression in level under stress. Do not add to your player’s stress in competition – for the competition will do enough of that for you. (John Kessel, USA Volleyball) 29 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Some other options for scoring between two teams are: • Teams must win a certain number of points in a row • Teams win a double point in achieving a certain type of point (e.g. block) • Teams must win a rally then win an additional ‘free’ ball point – where another ball is thrown to the winning team • One player needs to do a certain action for the team to rotate. See Task Card N for a basic game for beginners called ‘BUMBALL’ or Task Card O for a summary of different scoring options. It is important to establish participants who can volley/set the ball up accurately and consistently in order to create any kind of attack. These players become the ‘target’ for the Passers and Defenders to try and get the ball to, so they can control the second touch and help make it as hard as possible for the opposition to defend the attack. The higher the level of Volleyball, the more important the first contact is. Teams will develop better Serves and Attacks and this results in the need for better Passing and Defence. In any team, everyone will need to do this skill at some point, particularly from back court. However by getting the players who are best at certain skills, doing them more frequently you are clearly more likely to get a higher success rate. THE ‘LIBERO’ These individuals will still need to do each of the other skills, as there will be some rotations where they need to pass, defend and attack. THE ‘SETTER’ The Libero was introduced into the International game of Volleyball in 1998, aimed at raising the level of defensive play. The Libero must wear a contrasting color shirt from his or her teammates and cannot block or attack the ball when it is entirely above height of the net. They can replace any of the 3 back court players. Whilst not endorsing specificity in Volleyball, it is worth noting that the different positions do require different skill sets, physical attributes/characteristics and competencies. 30 © VolleySLIDE 2013 These positions are the two that are the most individual from the others, and both can involve some very specialised training, however when starting out just look to develop specific people in specific positions of an activity and over time your best ‘Setters’ and ‘Liberos’ will appear. Activity Name: Once the skills required for attacking and defending/blocking are established you can look to create mini game like situations, and then vary them accordingly. There are two possible starting points for this. 1) a ball fed by the coach that is anything from ‘easy’ to ‘tough’ and everything in the middle; 2) a service. From either of these, the team receiving the ball first should look to create an attack by passing the ball to an identified target (their Setter) and then onto someone to attack. To aid the Blockers and Defenders, you can put restrictions on the attacking team as you see fit. For example: the Setter must set the first ball of the rally to position 4, or 1 out of 3 attacking shots needs to be a tip, or the Attackers can only hit cross court, or the first attack must be from a back court player. To make it more game like, you can feed an easy ball to the defending team, who play it over the net on their first touch as ‘mean’ as they like. This should make it easy enough for the attacking team to create a reasonable attack, whilst also challenging them by receiving a tough ball themselves initially. The majority of Sitting Volleyball players would rather attack than defend so be sure to rotate the players around the different positions every few minutes as both are important. 31 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Some ways to progress this are: • Get the team to decide on a [severe] punishment if the ball hits the floor without someone going for it. • Introduce a scoring system rewarding great attacks, or superb defence/blocking. • Have a winner or a ‘finish point’ and work towards it. There will also be a more commitment and determination when there is a reward for the winner/penalty for the loser. Activity Name: ‘Wozzaball’ is a game that is set up in an identical way to a traditional game. However the service (and consequently the pass) are removed and it is initiated by a randomly introduced ball. This is best done at pace, challenging the players to think quickly, as well as reset and prepare so that they are always ready, whatever happens. A ball gets thrown in to the team who won the previous point, making it as difficult or as easy as possible for the Passers/Defenders. Look to involve a scoring system where a team must achieve something before they rotate or switch positions. This can be as simple or as complicated as you wish, however make sure the players are aware how it works if you want to create a competitive environment. You can nominate Setters, systems and tactics yourself or allow the teams to problem solve themselves. You can simulate structured play by feeding balls that are commonly received in a match, or just throw the ball in randomly with different types of spin, speed and trajectory to encourage the teams to work to create stability from random situations. No two Sitting Volleyball rally's are the same. 32 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Some ways to progress this are: • Remove the players at position 3 to allow more space at the net if you want to focus on defending. • Only allow teams 2 touches on the first attack, to simulate a bad first contact and the need to create stability. • Have some kind of ‘punishment’ should a ball fall to the floor without any effort being made by any member of the team. The mentality needs to be to go for it… even if only 1 in 10 comes up! Activity Name: Wash Drills are designed to be fast, frantic and competitive game like situations where players are pushed beyond the limits of a normal rally or set of Volleyball. The scoring for a Wash Drills can be varied depending on a environment that the leader is looking to create. The aim is to create a scoring system that encourages a certain type of activity from a team or player. A common wash drills is where both teams need to win 3 points consecutively to rotate, the first team round all 6 positions wins. But if a team wins 2 points, then the other team wins 1… ‘it’s a wash’ and it all starts again. The game teaches the game, and Wash Drills are designed to encourage players to solve problems within the game and find different ways to win the point. It is best for the leader to be quite dominant in these activities to set the pace and keep the score. If the desired activity results in it being harder for one team to win points over the other you can also make an it so that the teams have different requirements. For example: team A needs to win 3 in a row to rotate, team B only needs to win 5 single points in total. The uniqueness of volleyball, is that every point, is a ‘fail’ of one or the other team. Since every rally results in a point, that is a lot of little moments of failure. Sitting Volleyball players need to be comfortable with losing a point so it doesn’t effect the next one, or five points. (John Kessel, USA Volleyball 33 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Ways to progress this are: • Make the feeds from the coach progressively harder, or easier to the team winning the previous point • Enforce that the first attack must be done using 2 touches only (to simulate a bad 1st touch) • Insist that players have to tip the first attack (giving the advantage to the defending team) Activity Name: Attempting to play a match will be what the participants and maybe the leader wants to do first, but after trying some of the other Game Play activities included in this pack, you may well feel differently. Playing a set means that a large percentage of time will be spent with errors on serving/passing. This results in a large number of participants not actually touching the ball, involved in the play, learning anything or even enjoying themselves. When playing a set you also need for everyone to know the structure of the game for it to work properly. As a brief explanation: An individual starts serving and continues serving until the opposition win a rally. Once that has happened the opposition rotate one position clockwise and the next player serves. You may need to have a referee to authorise the players to serve, however it is better initially to allow the teams to decide when a fault has occurred (e.g. whether the ball touched a player or landed in/out), as this can aid their learning and understanding. However be prepared to step in as with the game being so fast, those involved often don’t see everything. 34 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Some ways to progress this are: • Have fixed Servers with another 6 on court just rotating amongst themselves, this gives a better flow to the activity and means that there isn’t time lost while the next Server prepares. • Remove the middle Blockers to create more space for Attackers and give a bigger challenge to the Defenders. • Only allow the teams to attack using the back court players – who need to be sat behind the 2m line when attacking. Organising a mini competition is fairly easy. The variables are quite large but the information throughout this pack should help you make the correct decisions for your group. Some things that you need to know are: How many participants do you have? Consequently how many teams do you have? How many courts do you have? Do you have any Referees? How much time do you have? What is the level of the participants? Consequently how long do you want a match to last? (in time or points) Once you have made all of your decisions, be sure to have a ‘Technical Meeting’ before you start with all of the nominated Captains to confirm the rules and competition format. Some ways to determine a winner are: [1] If a team wins a match then allocate them a certain number of tournament points. [2] Award 1 point for every set won by each team, this rewards all successes. Or [3] play a knockout cup where the winners go through each time until you have only 2 teams left in the final. For [1] and [2], the best way to manage the results is a cross grid (shown right). Make sure you number all courts and all matches to help keep the results sheets in order. Each match needs its own ‘Scoresheet’ (3-set and 5-set shown below) and it is good practice, to get both Captains and the Referee to sign these after the match. Full sized versions of each of these can be found at the end of the Task Cards. 35 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Courage Determination Inspiration Equality As Volleyball is a team sport you will naturally award the winning team. But, why not award the team showing the best team work, the most progression, the fairest play, or that best demonstrated the Paralympic Values (shown above). You can also choose to award individuals, either the best player(s) in the tournament, in each team or the best at each Volleyball action (Serving/Blocking etc…). You can do this by 1 vote per team at the end of the competition, or have each team nominate someone from their opposition after each game. Included at the end of the Task Cards are some Certificates that you can use (also shown below): For more information about the Paralympic Movement please go to: International Paralympic Committee – www.paralympic.org 36 © VolleySLIDE 2013 What is it all about? – The history and rules Finding the Floor – Suitable spaces and equipment Starting to Slide – How to sit and move Player and Ball – Volleying/Setting/Digging/Defending Power Play –Attacking/Spiking/Blocking/Serving Game Play – Competition options and Talent ID © VolleySLIDE 2013 Skills/Experience – ‘you can’t buy experience!’ TALENT IDENTIFICATION MARKERS Personal Situation – ‘As important as their spike height or ace count!’ Essential Desirable Able to commit to training locally Financially able to cover some travel costs Able to commit to weekends for Competitions/Traini ng Camps Able to be flexible around competition requirements with school or work Able to dedicate Have the support of time away from the a family to help court, to learn about prepare and cover the game of Sitting things when away Volleyball from home Essential A good learner A team player A history of playing sport Hand eye coordination Ball flight tracking ability Good coordination Agile and Quick Desirable A fast learner Strong leadership qualities A history of performance sport A history of playing Volleyball A history of ‘ball’ sports (e.g. Basketball/Netball/Rugb y/Handball etc…) A history of ‘net’ sports (e.g. Tennis/Badminton etc…) A history of individual arm ‘striking’ sports (e.g. Rounders/Softball/Tenni s/Badminton etc…) Discipline, drive and determination A competitive nature Aggressiveness Perform under pressure Physical – ‘you can’t coach someone to have a big reach!’ Essential Core body strength (able to hold themselves upright when sat unaided on the floor) Strong upper body Good manual dexterity Desirable Long upper body Long arms Big hands, strong fingers and wrists Lower limb disability ideally on the opposite side to A physical disability dominant arm (i.e. if right handed, then left leg disability) One fully functioning Two functioning upper upper limb limbs Decent eyesight Good, fast reactions Previous conditioning Current conditioning Good power Power generation generation with using a whole body dominant arm movement Any mixture of the above would make a good high level Sitting Volleyball player. 37 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Central Resource Base VolleySLIDE Website Video Library http://bit.ly/sittingvolleyball www.volleyslide.net www.youtube.com/volleySLI DE For: For: For: • The complete collection of partner resources • Suggested readings and resources • Other useful files, pictures & videos • The latest information • VolleySLIDE Resources and Workshop • Website links • ‘How to start’ Sitting Volleyball • Playlists of related videos from YouTube • Uploaded videos of interesting situations • Skill specific playlists VolleySLIDE is continuously undergoing review, so if you have any thoughts, feedback or suggestions please contact the author. 38 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Other Resources by the same writer: VolleyABLE (still under construction) Detailing information about how Sitting Volleyball can be used for rehabilitation as well more on Talent Identification (including Classification). VolleySLIDE Workshop Level 0 of Coach education, aimed at Teachers or anyone else wanting to learn the basics of the sport. All these resources and more can also be found on the VolleySLIDE Central Resource Base here: Jouke De Haan’s ‘Sitting Volleyball’ Search on Google (also under ‘zitvolleybal’) Rajko Vute’s ‘Teaching and Coaching Volleyball for the Disabled’ www.pef.uni-lj.si/fileadmin/Datoteke /Zalozba/pdf/Vute_WOVD_Handbook.pdf Youth Sport Trust’s TOP Sportability http://www.youthsporttrust.org/how-we-canhelp/programmes/top-sportsability.aspx http://bit.ly/sittingvolleyball Kwok Ng’s ‘When Sitting is Not Resting: Sitting Volleyball’ http://www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SK U-000565946 Australian Sports Commission Sport Ability Cards www.ausport.gov.au/participating/disability/resources/games_and_activities John Kessel’s Mini Volleyball – Volleyball 4 Youth assets.usoc.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/20021/ USA_Minivolley_English_12259.pdf 39 For the latest thoughts, links and resources please go to: www.volleyslide.net © VolleySLIDE 2013 John Kessel’s ‘Growing the Game’ Blogs www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Grassroots/Grow-The-Game-Blog.aspx In particular: • I am a New Coach • • Inclusion Through Sitting Volleyball Specialization is for Insects Many thanks to the following individuals and organisations who have provided photographs and images for this resource: • • • • • • • • This resource has been put together by Matt Rogers (former Sitting Volleyball Development Manager at Volleyball England and London 2012 Technical Manager) on behalf of World ParaVolley. Fred Bakker F.I.V.B. Jay Keeping Photography Jouke De Haan Luke Thomas and The Ashcombe School Matt Rogers Peter Guernari World ParaVolley (formerly W.O.V.D.) Phone: +447730681501 E-mail: mattrogers84@live.co.uk Many thanks to the following individuals who have provided input towards the content of this resource: Matt Rogers 40 © VolleySLIDE 2013 Name Previous and Current Roles Ken Edwards Coach and Lead Essex Pirates Sitting Volleyball Club Secretary, BVF Sitting Volleyball Sub Committee Jouke de Haan Former Head Coach (Holland, Germany, Egypt and Rwanda) Senior WOVD instructor and Author of book “Sitting Volleyball” Karen Hung Great Britain Assistant Coach East London Lynx Sitting Volleyball Club John Kessel WOVD Development Director USA Volleyball Gordon Neale OBE Volleyball England Board Member for Disability Sport Former Great Britain Head Coach and International Referee Kwok Ng Author of: When Sitting is not Resting: Sitting Volleyball Sitting Volleyball Researcher Richard Stacey-Chapman Loughborough Lions Head Coach Sitting Volleyball Development Officer, Volleyball England Luke Thomas FIVB Coach Ashcombe Volleyball Head Coach Ashley Trodden Great Britain Men's Assistant Coach Surrey Gators Head Coach The sport with a net, but no barriers….! © VolleySLIDE 2013