A variation of traditional volleyball is sitting volleyball. It is one of the most spectacular sports for the disabled. The object of the game is to get the ball over the net so that it falls into the opponent’s court. The rules of the game are similar to those of traditional volleyball. Each team on the court consists of 6 players, and the full squad should be 12 people in total. The match is played until three sets are won, and sets are played to 25 points. The main difference between indoor volleyball and sitting volleyball is playing in a sitting position. Therefore, when bouncing the ball, the players’ buttocks must be in contact with the ground. There are also differences in the size of the court and the height of the net. The court is smaller than traditional – it is 10 by 6 meters, while the net is suspended at a height of 115 cm for men and 105 cm for women. Although the sport was created for people with motor disabilities, such as amputees and those with paresis, it is also played by non-disabled players due to its spectacular nature. However, all of them must follow one rule – they must not pull their buttocks away from the ground while bouncing the ball.
The beginnings of sitting volleyball go back to 1956. Then the Dutch Sports Committee decided to combine two sports: traditional indoor volleyball and sitzball, which was played by people with impaired mobility. Sitzball was invented for war veterans, and was first played in the Netherlands. In 1956 the Dutch Sports Federation introduced the new sport, calling it “sitting volleyball”. (In 1956 the Dutch Sports Federation introduced a new sport called sitting volleyball, which attracted interest not only from disabled athletes but also from volleyball players struggling with knee and ankle injuries. The first international match was played in 1967, but it was not until eleven years later that sitting volleyball was fully recognized as a sport. It first appeared at the Paralympic Games in 1980. Then 7 men’s national teams took part in the tournament. Women joined the competition only in 2004, during the Paralympic Games in Athens. In Poland, sitting volleyball has been developing since 1997.
