The conversation
atie Holloway, who was born without a right fibula and had the lower part of her leg amputated when she was 20 months old, played both volleyball and basketball through her sophomore year in high school. Then, the native of Lake Stevens, Wash., switched to hoops full time.
“I knew I would only be able to jump off one leg for volleyball, and I wanted to play a sport in college, so I focused on basketball,” she says. “But I loved both sports.” After a successful basketball career at Cal State Northridge – she’s the only player in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to play wearing a prosthetic leg – she found her way back to volleyball by joining the U.S. Sitting Team and anchoring the team’s offense in back-to-back silver medal finishes at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics. In August, Holloway, 29, will compete with the U.S. Sitting Team against Brazil, Cuba and Canada at the Parapan Games in Toronto. VolleyballUSA talked with Hol- loway about what it’s like to play alongside standing players, the strategy for growing the sitting game and how you can bond with teammates.
olleyballUSA: You participated recently in a sitting competition at the USA Volleyball Open National Championships in Detroit that had teams made up of both sitting and stand- ing players, including two-time U.S. Olympian Kevin Barnett. What was that like?
V that they have to move first before playing the ball. K.H.: The event was amazing, and it was so
much fun. Whenever we get standing play- ers in the mix with sitting players, it creates an atmosphere of fun and excitement and adrenalin. Standing players know the game of volleyball, so they have the skill set, but they don’t know how to move (in the sitting game). It makes for a hilarious experience for everyone because you watch people who are traditionally really great at what they do and they don’t know how to move. And it’s huge to have people involved like Kevin and Jeremy Roueche (DJ for the AVP and NBA Clippers) and Jay Hosack (assistant coach, Penn State men’s volleyball). They really embraced it and didn’t shy away from spending time with us and really becoming a part of our world for the weekend.
Sounds like the standing players struggle with the sitting game.
Yeah. You have to train your brain to think about moving differently. When they sit down and play, they’re often bending in really awkward positions just to try to play the ball. Or they’re falling on their backs. And at the net, they usu- ally butt-lift when they’re trying to reach up for the ball, and that’s illegal. You see a lot of funny things. They have a hard time grasping the idea
What needs to happen to increase participation in the sitting game? We’ve talked about creating more 3-on-3 or 2-on-2 tournaments that can get people together for competition. We’ve done a lot of clinics to teach basic skills. Going forward, if we can create more competitions – eventually maybe for prize money or prizes – more people will be able to enjoy playing and compete on the national level. Especially standing players (with injuries). For example, Kevin Barnett has really bad knees, but he’s still got an arm. For him, it’s a great oppor- tunity to compete at a very high level without his knees being a factor. And there are a lot of girls playing club who want to play in college but, if they’re amputees, they can’t jump as high, so the elite level for them is the Paralympic option.
As a kid, did you feel you were at a disadvan- tage wearing a prosthetic?
The only time I felt like I was really dif- ferent was when I got cut from sports teams. I was slower. There were times in college when I wasn’t able to make the same times as my teammates. But at no point did I think, ‘I can’t overcome it.’ I always thought it was just some- thing I would have to work through. But there were definitely moments when I was young when I was very let down – kids teasing me and not
Two-time Paralympic silver medalist playing a big role in growing the sitting gameKatie Holloway K
feeling like I fit in. I just thought, ‘I just have to keep my head down and keep going.’
What would your message be to a young kid who’s dealing with that?
I think you have to know in your heart that as long as you’re giving effort, that’s all you can do – and you can and will overcome it. When kids teased me or picked on me, I just didn’t respond. That makes you that much more powerful. Sometimes kids fight back, but I think it’s so much more powerful when you just put your head down and really work harder to get to where you will end up, which is usually a more successful place. I have a hashtag called #DigginDeep because that’s essentially what I feel like inside when I’m really focused and really trying hard. It’s all about your heart and how much heart it takes to overcome things.
When you played basketball at North- ridge, some people didn’t realize you wore a prosthetic.
I didn’t want to be recognized as a person with a disability, so I would hide it by wearing tall socks and a knee brace. A lot of people just thought it was a knee problem. Most people on my team knew; I just pre- tended they didn’t. The greatest compliment I ever received was when a very well- respected coach said that he had no idea that I had a prosthetic until he read an article about me. He said he thought I was the most amazing player and that he had so much respect for me. That really stuck with me.
You’ve said that the U.S. Women’s Sitting
Volleyball team has great chemistry. What advice would you give on fostering a close bond with teammates?
The No. 1 thing you can do is spend time
with your team. When young players have all-day tournaments, there’s so much time in between games and matches, and there’s an opportunity to get to know each other. Especially for young girls, getting a higher level of relationships with their teammates is based on those bonding times. Young girls really relate by conversation.
You were once quoted as saying that a big part of success is what you do when no one is watching.
Anything you want to do as your primary goal, you have to spend the extra time and effort when no one is watching. I think there are so many people out there who just want the glory and want to go to the higher levels because of the attention that they get for it. But they don’t want to practice. There’s so much more to being at the top level than just being talented. It really takes work ethic. And it takes doing the things on the side that most people don’t want to do.
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PHOTO: USAV / BILL KAUFFMAN
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