I’m not the type to get misty-eyed about soldiers. I respect the sacrifices they’re forced to make, or at least I’m pretty sure I do, but all too often I find the endless praise and attempts at ingratiation to be a little tiresome. I don’t want to wax too political, so just suffice it to say, it’s a little complicated.
This week, wounded, ill and injured (ill?) veterans of the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Special Forces, and the British Armed Forces have gathered in Colorado Springs, Colorado for the fourth annual Warrior Games. Competitions are held in seven sports — archery, cycling, shooting, swimming, track and field athletics, wheelchair basketball, and of course, sitting volleyball. I do like seeing disabled sport get coverage (I wish the London Paralympics had been more widely available) and ESPN provided webcasts for the final matches of the basketball and volleyball competitions. Incidentally, both featured the same two teams, Army and Marine Corps.
A few of the same competitors took part in both the volleyball and basketball matches, held on the same night. Beach volleyball great Misty May-Treanor was on hand to serve and spike a few herself and meet with the teams earlier in the tournament. Also present were fellow London Olympian Missy Franklin, and Britain’s Prince Harry, who is himself a member of the British army. Misty and Harry even played a little sitting volleyball against each other in an exhibition match, as the USA sitting volleyball federation encourage (men to play with women, the able-bodied to join disabled teammates). On one rally, Harry succeeded at doing what few ever could on the beach — finding the floor against Misty.
The final match of the tournament went to the Marine Corps team by a count of (25-21, 25-21). They played best two sets of three rather than three of five (three of five is customary in sitting volleyball just as it is in standing — in this match, had a third set been necessary, it would have gone to 15). In both sets, the Army team took an early lead only to have it whittled away. Likewise in both sets, the Marine Corps reached set point pretty early on and withstood a 3 or 4 point Army run to make the set closer than it may have appeared. The Marine Corps team finished the event having won all six of their matches. The Army got their win back later that night by winning the basketball final 34-32.
It’s interesting to watch, to see how the game generally resembles ‘standing’ volleyball but it certainly has its own nuances as well. The biggest difference between the two, aside from the blindingly obvious, is that front-row players are allowed to block serves. That makes the pace of the game a bit more herky-jerky. There are still those occasional rallies that last a good solid minute, but there are also some that are quite literally over before they even begin. There are also some offensive sets you’d never see in standing volleyball, such as attack attempts on one from the back row. The playing area being so compact and, at the risk of stating the obvious, everything happening so close to the ground makes the game deceptively fast-paced and a real physical test.
I quite agree with Harry, who said
“I don’t see how it wouldn’t be possible to fill a stadium with 80,000 people, not to watch Olympics, not to watch Paralympics but to watch wounded servicemen fight it out amongst each other – not on a battlefield but in a stadium.”
It would be great to see disabled sport gain more widespread coverage, and if this helps that, all the better. Congratulations to the sport champions and to all the disabled veterans who took part in the event (I can’t deny that doing so takes a little courage). This is one event I’ll look for next year.
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