Twenty years later, a coach from Arizona was driving athletes from the Sitting A2 program in Edmond, Oklahoma. Arriving the day before in 88 degree heat in late February, the van heaters were on full steam in the 26 degree morning air. Welcome to Oklahoma. The athletes ranged in age, in size, in disability but all relished getting on the court. They loved sitting volleyball.
The twenty years in between saw the young affable driver, Bill Hamiter, take a sport so reclusive in its popularity it was the Howard Hughes of mainstream volleyball tweaks but made it into a culture of growth, science and as only a story like this can end, world domination.
Yes, the Oklahoma Kid, Bill Hamiter, with little to nothing to work with as far as tangible evidence based training or statistics used his education, his coaching prowess and the many lessons winning and losing teach us about life along the way and this past September, his USA Sitting Women's Team dismembered an empire. The Chinese team had beaten the USA in the previous 3 Paralympics, stopping them the last two times with the gold medal at stake.
It took 8 years. Nothing comes easily when you are reinventing a sport. He added speed, he added wrinkles, he out smarted the Chinese who adjusted their game to the adjustments the USA made year after year. This time, the USA women had the answer. This year, they would not be denied.
Sit back and listen to the journey, as Bill Hamiter takes you on his: as a coach and administrator to simply answering a call no one else would and how that took him back home and then world wide. Listen how he utilizes the harshest team culture imaginable and uses it to his advantage. Most of all, listen to a pioneer of a sport that grows in popularity with each passing season.
Twenty years between drivers, and he is still the same affable Oklahoma Kid. He just has a longer resume' now.
