Our project is designed to identify talent for Great Britain's female sitting volleyball squad in preparation for the London 2012 Paralympics. We are focusing on those with lower limb physical disabilities, although the project also aims to grow participation of the game.
Project details Project duration: 01 November 2009 - ongoing
Organisation:
Volleyball England
Project name:
Great Britain Sitting Volleyball female development programme
Audience Disabed
Innovation
The Sitting Volleyball project is unique as it focuses on identifying potential squad members for the London 2012 sitting volleyball squad - and also developing them along the journey to the Paralympics.
Recruitment and promotion
We reruited potential sitting volleyball participants through exhibitions, editorial on various websites and word of mouth.
Location
How was your project delivered? VolleyballFunding
Our project is funded through the UKSport grant for Volleyball as well as some Sport England development work funding in conjunction with the Volleyball England Strategic Plan.
Partnership
We partner with the English Federation of Disability Sport and Disabled Sports Events. We are also working with the British Paralympic Association and UKSport as well as each centre having a number of partnerships both locally and regionally.
Results
Lessons:
Between now and the 2012 Paralympics, we need to find more partnerships to help get our message to more physically disabled females. We also need to establish a national publicity network and find ways of utilising social networking sites to a greater extent.
Evaluation:
So far we have recruited around 20 females in 3 months, of which 15 are in regular training with the Great Britain’s Women programme.
Themes
Growing participation - disabled groups
The project has grown access to sitting volleyball centres. There are now 10 regional centres available - soon to be grown to 14. We also provide free weekly sessions which are open to all to attend.
Promotion and marketing
Our sitting volleyball programme is supported by the regional centres using our PR agent PromotePR. We have also started growing interest using Facebook and have used Jimmy Carr as a high profile ambassador.
Talent identification and player pathways
The programme looks at both player pathways and talent identification. We want as many players to come and play sitting volleyball in the regional centres but at the same time we’re looking to develop those with particular talents and get them into the Great Britain sitting volleyball squad.
