COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 25, 2021) – The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded USA Volleyball an Adaptive Sports Grant of $61,675 to support the participation of disabled veterans and Armed Services members in beach ParaVolley.
In 2019, USA Volleyball announced that it would become the National Federation for the sport of beach ParaVolley in the United States. Beach ParaVolley is a standing version of adaptive beach volleyball and is played with three-member teams.
“This grant will allow the USAV Beach ParaVolley Program to develop partnerships in five cities between USAV Regions, beach volleyball clubs, Veterans Administration facilities, veteran service organizations, and other adaptive sports groups.” said Elliot Blake, USAV Manager, Sitting Volleyball Teams. “We hope to create new programming during the 2022 season that will lead to more disabled veterans and disabled members of the Armed Forces joining the volleyball community.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs awards nearly $16 million through its annual Adaptive Sports Grant program to 102 national and community groups offering adaptive sports and equine therapy.
The 2021 grants will support more than 13,500 disabled Veterans and members of the armed forces to engage in sports opportunities.
“Our Sitting Volleyball Department has a long history of including disabled veterans and disabled members of the Armed Forces within our grassroots, athlete-development pipeline, and on the sitting national teams,” Blake said. “With this grant, we will be able to offer new opportunities for them in the emerging discipline of beach ParaVolley.”
World ParaVolley, the international federation for Paralympic volleyball, is working with the International Paralympic Committee to add beach ParaVolley to the Paralympic Games by 2028. The sport has been gaining popularity since 2007.