{"id":1152060,"date":"2026-08-16T15:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1152060\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T15:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:53:18","slug":"edmond-training-site-for-gold-medal-winning-usa-sitting-volleyball-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1152060\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmond training site for gold medal winning USA sitting volleyball team"},"content":{"rendered":"

USA sitting volleyball teams train in Oklahoma, achieving global recognition<\/p>\n

The USA’s sitting volleyball teams, training at the University of Central Oklahoma, have achieved major milestones, with the women\u2019s team winning gold at the ParaVolley World Championships and the men\u2019s team qualifying for the Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/a>EDMOND, Okla. \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

The USA’s sitting volleyball teams, training at the University of Central Oklahoma, have achieved significant success, including a gold medal at the ParaVolley World Championships and qualification for the Paralympic Games. <\/p>\n

The teams, which include world-class athletes, practice in Edmond on UCO\u2019s campus. Bill Hamiter, director of USA Volleyball Sitting National Teams, described the teams as “a well-kept secret.” <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are world-class athletes,\u201d Hamiter said. <\/p>\n

Sitting volleyball is a variation of the sport distinct from traditional indoor, beach or grass volleyball. <\/p>\n

\u201cSitting volleyball is another discipline of volleyball. So just as you would have beach or grass or traditional volleyball indoor, we are sitting on our bottoms. The concept is still the same,\u201d said Nicky Nieves, a member of the USA women\u2019s sitting volleyball team. <\/p>\n

The athletes, who have unique disabilities, approach the sport with the same competitive mindset as any other athlete. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal ultimately for anyone in any sport, hopefully, is to be number one,\u201d said Roderick Green, a member of the USA men\u2019s sitting volleyball team. <\/p>\n

The women\u2019s team recently won gold at the ParaVolley World Championships, while the men\u2019s team achieved its goal of qualifying for the Paralympic Games. Both teams are now looking ahead to 2028, when they will aim to compete for gold on home turf. <\/p>\n

Beyond their athletic achievements, the teams focus on fostering a sense of community. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt did make me way more confident in life, and it gave me a community of people that I can go back to, to talk about, to help me get through life and then help me in turn work with other people and share that same community,\u201d Nieves said. <\/p>\n

Hamiter emphasized that the athletes\u2019 disabilities do not define them. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to be treated just like anybody else,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re an athlete first. Then we play this game of sitting volleyball.\u201d <\/p>\n

The teams practice in the mornings at the Wellness Center on UCO\u2019s campus and are always happy to showcase their sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USA sitting volleyball teams train in Oklahoma, achieving global recognition The USA’s sitting volleyball teams, training at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1152061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5311],"tags":[97969,1425,313379,5554,313380,146805,313381,84868,313384,93,313383,313382,49,978,659,313378,313385],"class_list":["post-1152060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-athlete","tag-beach","tag-bill-hamiter","tag-community","tag-edmond","tag-gold-medal","tag-grass-volleyball","tag-paralympic-games","tag-paravolley-world-championships","tag-sport","tag-traditional-indoor","tag-uco","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-volleyball-team","tag-world-class-athlete"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117105998594736552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1152060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1152061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1152060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1152060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1152060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}