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Active Summer Fun: 'Sitting volleyball is a completely equalising sport'

A new participation campaign created by the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) and National Disability Sport Organisations (NDSOs) is encouraging more disabled people to find out and play out over summer. Active Summer Fun -#ActiveSummerFun on social media - is an exciting new campaign that aims to support more disabled people to find ways to be active during the warmer months.

This summer we will be hearing from various people, who lead active lifestyles in all sorts of ways. We hear how they are expecting the next few months to be very busy!

Today sitting volleyball enthusiast Shaun Carter from Manchester Marvels talks to us. He is a non-disabled person and discusses how he first got involved in such an inclusive sport, team camaraderie with disabled players and promoting his club's ethos to ensure everyone feels welcome.

Campaign banner with three images on. The first- women with dwarfism playing tennis. Second- a blind man running with a guide. Third picture is a woman playing wheelchair basketball

Shaun’s Active Summer Fun:

I am not disabled myself. At Paralympic level the GB team is composed entirely of disabled players, but at a national level non-disabled players can also participate.

Prior to sitting volleyball I had never played in a sports team alongside disabled people, and I’ve found it vastly rewarding- for me especially!

I enjoy playing a lot of football. Up to about a year ago, when I was still at university in Aberystwyth, it was as often as four times a week. I left uni, moved to Stockport and now only play weekly five-a-side. My primary sport now is sitting volleyball.

Sitting volleyball club Manchester Marvels was formed roughly 12 months ago. Paul Edward, the chairman, is 52 this August and he had his left leg amputated 18 months ago. He used to play football and badminton and generally liked to keep fit, but due to the loss of his leg his involvement in those sports became rather restricted, and he was forced to look elsewhere.

The limb centre to which he was affiliated gave him an archery brochure but the sport didn’t suit him. But the someone else pointed him in the direction of the Wigan Seahawks volleyball club, and though they are primarily a standing volleyball setup one of their team was putting on sitting volleyball sessions.

Watch Manchester Marvels in action

Volleyball England soon pledged some money to Paul if he could gather the numbers to launch a sitting volleyball team in Manchester. The Marvels were already a big club and one of their coaches, Howard, joined Paul.

And then I got involved, went to one of the very early sessions back in July 2014 and really enjoyed it. I don’t think I’ve missed a session since.

We train twice a week, every Sunday morning then one midweek evening. Training is two hours, so that’s four hours training a week plus the odd match.

I am a volunteer, and just today I was at SportCity teaching sitting volleyball to children who had a variety of impairments, from Cerebral Palsy to Down’s Syndrome. It was just some hitting and passing.

There were also two 19-year-old players, both in wheelchairs, who didn't have much movement in their arms. I was essentially just putting the ball in their lap and helping them return it over the net. I was working with them and their carers and it was obviously so much fun playing the sport.

In our team all our disabled players are people who have had amputations. They say they don't feel ostracised in our environment, playing alongside non-disabled people.

There is just under two more weeks of our pre-season Marvels break, before we recommence training in August. This autumn I am going to take a training course so I can become a sitting volleyball coach.

Sitting volleyball is a completely equalising sport. As long as you can sit down and put one hand in the air you can join in. It is a team sport which encourages communication, and as a multi-points sport it rewards quick movement and team play. It can help with a person’s self-esteem, and our team is mixed gender and multi-age.

We are open to everybody and we want everyone and anyone to get involved with sitting volleyball. We haven’t had a person who’s come to sit with us and play who has disliked it.

You can find out more about Active Summer Fun. Find out and play out this summer.