Olympic Prospect – Andy Skinner: Sitting Volleyball
Andy Skinner is an incredible athlete. Some of us may have heard of Sitting Volleyball and some of us may not have. Andy sheds some light what the sport involves, how he has coped with ‘full time’ training since he started in March this year and tells about his ultimate goal of making the London 2012 Paralympic Squad (Andy was voted 2010 Lincolnshire Disabled Sportsperson of the Year).
Luckily he has taken time out of his busy schedule to do a short Q&A session with us here at Orbana to give an insight into his daily training and explains in greater detail what it takes to hopefully one day become a Paralympian.
Q – Andy, with Sitting Volleyball included in the London 2012 Paralympic Games, what are the big competitions leading up to next summer that you are training for and when will you find out if you make the London 2012 Paralympic Squad?
A – We have some big competitions coming up, we are making our debut apperance at the BT Paralympic World cup in Manchester against The Netherlands, The Continental Cup in Kettering which will feature the top 10 teams in the world (better than the Paralympic games) and finishing off this year the European Championship in Rotterdam, Holland. To be honest nobody really knows apart form the coach, hopefully around July/ August next year (just to keep us on our toes)
Q – Andy for those that are unaware Sitting Volleyball actually involves sitting on the floor and not in a wheelchair like many other paralympic sports, can you tell us a little bit more about the fundamental differences sitting volleyball has from volleyball ?
A – The only differences from standing and sitting is the court is smaller in Sitting (10mx6m), the net is lower (1m15) and you can block on a serve, and Sitting is a much faster tempo game otherwise everything else is the same.
Q – March has been the first month (is this correct??) that you have been a ‘full time’ athlete training everyday, what has been the biggest challenge switching over to concentrating solely on Sitting Volleyball?
A – That’s right, I have been in rehab from shoulder surgery I had at Christmas, so getting back into the fitness levels is a tough cookie to crack, and the biggest part is missing my family, have two kids and I only get back up north to see them every other weekend.
Q – Following on from this what aspect of training do you find the toughest?
A - Getting up at 5am every day to start training at 6 sometimes finishing at 10pm, and the gym work, its not easy for a 41 yr old to keep up with 20 something’s I can tell you, but I manage it.
Q – What’s your routine when it comes to game day, any weird superstitions that you want to share with us!
A – Game day starts 4 hrs before a match, we generally have a good stretching session, run through our plan maybe watch the team we are gonna play’s previous game highlights, if it’s a evening start the we have a practice session in the morning. I have no superstitions at all..is that normal ??, I just get on with warming up and want to get on with my job…beating the opponent
Q – Who has been the biggest influence on your career so far and why?
A- Joseph Banfi. He is a former International and Paralympic Sitting Volleyball coach and was my first GB coach. The guy is simply amazing at understanding who you are and helped me through the transition of knowing nothing about the game to giving me my first cap against the Netherlands in 2008, without him I wouldn’t be where I am now.
We’ll keep you up to date with Andy’s progress throughout the season with regular updates.
