COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 13, 2018) – The U.S. Men’s Sitting Team is more than ready for a moment in the sun and it’s hoping to find it at the 2018 Sitting Volleyball World Championships, July 15-22 in Netherlands.
The team is ranked eight in the world. It finished 10th at the World Championships in 2010 and 2014 and it placed eight at the 2016 Paralympic Games.
It has reached the podium in the last two Parapan American Championships, finishing second to Brazil.
But their expectations for Netherlands are higher.
“We have talked as a team that we would like to finish in the top five in the world,” U.S. Head Coach Greg Walker said. “We have been very fortunate to have had significant increases in our competition throughout the last few years.”
This year, members of the U.S. Men’s Team competed at the World Super Six in Iran. Although the team of just seven players did not win a match, it played tough against teams like world No. 1 Iran, No. 4 Bosnia & Herzegovina, No. 5 Ukraine and No. 6 Germany.
“Even though we took a skeleton crew to Iran, we played some good matches,” outside hitter Charlie Swearingen said. “We played well together.”
Swearingen is one of eight players on the team that competed at the 2016 Paralympic Games. The others are Dan Regan, Eric Duda, James Stuck, Roderick Green, John Kremer, Chris Seilkop and J Dee Marinko.
This week, the team has trained and competed against Italy’s men’s sitting team in the picturesque town of Rotonda. The U.S. Men won all their matches against Italy and even got medals and a trophy.
Italy will not compete at the World Championships. Instead, the U.S. Men will face China, Rwanda and Netherlands. If they play well, they could win the pool.
“We know that playing against a higher level of competition has helped us greatly to prepare for this event,” Walker said. “We hope that we can compete at a consistently high level.”
U.S. Men’s Sitting National Team
No. Name (Position, Height, Hometown)
1. Travis Ricks (L, 5-7, San Diego, Calif.)
2. Dan Regan (MB, 6-0, Edmond, Okla.)
3. Nicholas Dadgostar (OH/S/DS, 6-0, Sidney, Neb.)
5. Eric Duda (OH, 6-5, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
8. James Stuck (MB, 6-5, New Kensington, Pa.)
11. Roderick Green (MB, 6-3, West Monroe, La.)
12. Patrick Young (OH, 6-4, Albuquerque, N.M.)
13. Charlie Swearingen (OH, 6-3, Gulfport, Miss.)
14. John Kremer (L, 5-9, Buford, Ga.)
15. Chris Seilkop (OH/MB, 6-6 DeLand, Fla.)
17. Zach Upp (Opp, 6-5, Bartlett, Ill.)
18. J. Dee Marinko (OH, 6-4, Norman, Okla.)
Head Coach: Greg Walker
Assistant Coach: Joe Skinner
Assistant Coach: Kyle Homeyer
Athletic Trainer: Katie King
Team Leader: Dixie Collins
Technical Coordinator: Galen Dodd
Technical Coordinator: David Dantes
U.S. Match Schedule (all times ET)
Venlo, Netherlands
July 15 at 1 p.m.: China vs USA
July 16 at 10 a.m.: Rwanda vs USA
July 18 at 1 p.m.: USA vs Netherlands
Eindhoven, Netherlands
July 19: Quarterfinals and classification matches
July 21: Semifinals and classification matches
July 22: Medal matches and classification matches