Chapter 11: The Use of Multimedia and the Internet in Providing Global Training Opportunities for Coaches in Adapted Sports: Case of Sitting Volleyball/VolleySLIDE

Adapted sports has been popularized through events like the Paralympics. The Paralympics grew from values similar to the Olympics Games, and was begun through the concept of sport as a form of rehabilitation by Sir Ludwig Guttmann. Guttmann believed that there was more to life than just waiting to die for the people in the wards of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital Guttmann, 1976. Rehabilitation gave individuals inspiration to practice in sports as well as the notion to compete against others. The competitions led to the birth of the Stoke Mandeville Games, which later became the Paralympic Games Brittain, 2009.

An agreement between the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee was signed in 2001, whereby game organizers needed to include both Olympic and Paralympic plans when submitting a hosting bid Bailey, 2008. As a result, the games became more professional at all levels. These included the various actors involved in these games such as athletes, coaches, officials, managers, sponsors, delegation teams, medical staff, as well as the architects, builders, constructors, designers, and engineers that have to consider accessibility, equality, and equity for the games. As a result, the games have been so impressive that there are more demands from the spectators. There are household names that people talk about, and stadiums full of people chanting their favorite athletes’ names.