Sitting Volleyball Clinics Being Introduced to Vancouver

February 27, 2008 (No. 7) - Vancouver has been chosen as the first place in Canada where regularly scheduled sitting volleyball "train and play" clinics will be held. Two six-week clinics are planned, one of which is being offered as part of the innovative Get Up & Go! program, a recently launched pilot project of the Vancouver Park Board and the School Board. There will be a free promotional drop-in on March 1st from noon to 4 pm at Windermere Secondary School for anyone to come and try it out.

Sitting volleyball is a Paralympic sport that is very popular in Europe, but is quite new to Canada. Volleyball Canada has run a national team program for both men and women since early 2007. The Canadian men's team won the bronze medal at the 2007 Parapanamerican Games in Brazil, but did not qualify for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Summer Games.

"We're extremely excited about this opportunity to move sitting volleyball forward in Canada," said Phil Allen, coordinator of Disabled Volleyball Programs for Volleyball Canada. "The Vancouver clinics are designed to be inclusive as it's a sport that can be played by just about anyone, and we're encouraging everyone - men and women including those with a physical disability and those without - to come and try it out."

Following a "train and play" format, the clinics are designed to provide participants with a mix of instruction and game play. "At this point we're getting the word out to as many people as possible so we can populate the programs," said Travis Dodds, a local coach and co-founder of Optimum Volleyball and the driving force behind the creation of the Sitting Volleyball program in Vancouver.

"When I learned about Sitting Volleyball early in 2007, I was astonished that it had not been offered in Vancouver, and wanted to do something about it. The opportunity to work with the Get Up & Go! program has been a critical success factor in helping to launch this sport in Vancouver. Ultimately it's our hope that these sessions will blossom into the first sitting volleyball league in the country" says Dodds, who will be one of two volunteer instructors at the clinics. Abdullah Moradinejad is the other - an ex-national team player with Germany with over 20 years sitting volleyball experience in Germany and Iran, where the sport has been popular for over three decades.

The public can find out more about the "Train and Play" sitting volleyball clinics at optimumvolleyball.com. To find out more about the sport of sitting volleyball, go to paralympic.ca.

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For more information contact:
Phil Allen, Volleyball Canada at 613-748-5681 ext. 230, pallen@volleyball.ca
Travis Dodds, Optimum Volleyball at 778-329-7040, travis@optimumvolleyball.com;
Norma Reveler, Canadian Paralympic Committee at 613-569-4333, ext. 227, norma@paralympic.ca
Booth Palmer, Vancouver Park Board, 604-257-8431, booth.palmer@vancouver.ca
www.vancouverparks.ca

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation maintains 220 parks and 40 major facilities throughout the City of Vancouver. The Park Board's mission is to provide, preserve and advocate for parks and recreation services to benefit people, communities and the environment.