#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)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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© 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.
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© 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
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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
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© 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