Paralympics Potential Day showcases sitting volleyball at Surrey Sports Park - Volleyball
Paralympics Potential Day was held yesterday at the Surrey Sports Park of University of Surrey. The event targets people with disabilities who want to actively take part in sports at a professional level. The athletes who will qualify in the procedures involved
will become part of the British Paralympic team. These teams will then be headed to the Paralympic Games.
The day was held as a try-out session in which candidates with potential were chosen. A total of 50 athletes took part in the event and they belonged to age groups of 13 to 18. All of the contestants gave tryouts in several sports of their choice. The Paralympic
Potential Day featured sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing and many more. Each of the games has been modified to fit the disabilities that the participating athletes have.
Sitting volleyball for example, is similar to regular volleyball with six players on each team and the same basic rules. However, in order to compensate for the limited movement, the participating players play the game while sitting. Subsequently, the net
height and the court size among other things differ from regular volleyball.
The Chairman of the ParalympicsGb, Tim Reddish, made the following comments about the event: “Paralympic Potential days such as this one are a fantastic opportunity for disabled people to try out a variety of different Paralympic sports under one roof. We
have had over 50 disabled people from across the country from Jersey to Manchester, and our next day will be in Newcastle so that we can target potential athletes from further north. Everyone seems to have really enjoyed their experience and it’s exciting
to think that Paralympians of the future could be in this room today.”
The Potential Day was sponsored by Cadbury, which has been associated with ParalympicsGB for almost two years. The company has been active in helping out ParalympicGB in holding camps all over the country by collaborating with the coaches as well as the
participating athletes. The recent Potential Day was the seventh of its kind that Cadbury has helped put up with ParalympicsGB.
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