Sitting Volleyball

For a few months now I've been looking for a league or group that played sitting volleyball. Excited, doesn't begin to describe how I felt a couple weeks ago when I found out a friend of a friend knew of a group.

Sitting volleyball is essentially the same as 6s court volleyball, only the players sit directly on the court. The net is obviously lower, 1.15m in height (slightly lower for women), and the court is a little smaller, both in length and width. Most of the same rules apply, although in sitting volleyball you are allowed to block the serve. Additionally, you must have at least one bum cheek in contact with the floor when you make contact with the ball.

I had a blast playing on Thursday. Leading up to it I had been pretty nervous. I hadn't played in almost 2 years, since just before my diagnosis when I was told to stop playing, so I was worried I wouldn't play very well and would frustrate everyone else who was playing. I foresaw myself making terrible passes and because your teammates can't run for the ball, accuracy is even more important than usual.

After a brief introductory lesson on how to move around the court, I was ready to play. Or as ready as I was going to be. We did a bit of a group warm up with some drills and then got right into a game. I haven't had that much fun being active in a really long time. Just like sledge hockey, one of the greatest aspects of sitting volleyball is that I am able to play it exactly how you are meant to. I don't require any modifications or special allowances. Sure it's a modified version of volleyball but as far as sitting volleyball goes, I'm no different than any able body person playing.

As an added bonus, I had the opportunity to meet and play with a couple guys from team Canada. One of them actually being the guy who went through how to move around the court with me. I think I played pretty well, especially for a first time out. I definitely wasn't terrible. I even returned one really good hit from one of the team Canada guys. After the play, he asked the guy playing back row directly behind me if he had returned that. His reply, with a bit of a surprised expression on his face was, "no, Jen did." I felt really good about that, not to mention more confident about coming back to play again.

My arms weren't too sore the next day because I'm used to walking on my arms all day. My tailbone on the other hand was bruised. And not just, oh it was sore, there was actually a visible bruise. Not having a sitting bone on the right side puts a lot more pressure than usual on my tailbone, especially when you're sliding around the court and not thinking about how your weight is distributed or what you're sitting on.

Even though it hurt to sit for a couple days, there is no doubt in my mind that I will go back. I actually enjoyed it so much that I wouldn't mind looking into competing in the sport some day.