We finally got to sit down with our mutual close friend, 3x Paralympian, and Paris 2024 Bronze Medalist, Katelyn Wright, to discuss all things lifelong disability and gaining confidence and a voice through Paralympic sport. Katelyn explains her childhood with a chronic illness which ultimately led to her above knee amputation as a teenager, and how this impacted both her ability to be active and her mental health. We talk about the early days of finding and trying sitting volleyball, and reflect on how far we’ve come. Katelyn has a big story with lots of insight and lessons for anyone. She’s also witty as heck. We hope you enjoy this one!

As always, if there is anything you’d like us to discuss, or any guests you think we should have on, send us a DM on our socials! 

Take a Seat Instagram: @takeaseatcast

Katelyn’s Instagram: @katelynwright__
Heidi’s Instagram: @heidipeters__

Nicole’s Instagram: @nicoleban_

Want to learn more about sitting volleyball? Click Here and here!

References: 

Nicole’s Sweater: Project Worthy

Heidi’s Sweater: The Gist

Katelyn’s Sweater: Brunette The Label

Please remember to subscribe, rate, comment on and review the pod! Sharing with a friend would be great too. Thanks all!

Welcome back to Take a Seat with Heidi and Nicole! This is the first episode of SEASON 2! We’re back and more pumped than ever before to keep podding and engaging in conversations that you hopefully enjoy listening to and learning from. In this episode we talk about what we’ve been up to post Paralympics through the fall and winter, as well as where we’re at now and a bit of what’s to come.

If there is anything you’d like us to discuss, or any guests you think we should have on, send us a DM on our socials! 

Take a Seat Instagram: @takeaseatcast

Heidi’s Instagram: @heidipeters__

Nicole’s Instagram: @nicoleban_

Want to learn more about sitting volleyball? Click Here and here!

References: 

Nicole’s T-shirt: Peace Collective - Las Vegas Aces Vintage T-Shirt

Heidi’s T-shirt: Ilona Maher - Beast Beauty Brains T-Shirt

Please remember to subscribe, rate and review the pod! Sharing with a friend would be great too. Thanks all!

This episode was recorded on September 9th in Paris to capture our immediate reactions to making it on the podium at the Paralympics. Fast forward a month and a half (more actually) and we are finally releasing the episode. Apologies but we had some technical difficulties ... what else is new? But here we are, we can't go back. Listen in to hear our real, raw and unedited reactions to getting BRONZE AT THE PARIS PARALYMPICS. 

Ps. This episode features the one and only Teresa Wiebe .. a true icon.

Teresa's Instagram: @teresarenee_

Take a Seat Instagram: @takeaseatcast

Heidi’s Instagram: @heidipeters__

Nicole’s Instagram: @nicoleban_

Today’s mini episode is a broadcasting update for sitting volleyball at the Paralympics!

As discussed in episode 11, the first 3 days of the sitting volleyball competition were not included in the broadcast plan decided on by Paris 2024. CBC Sports went to bat for sitting volleyball, and Team Canada at large, to acquire the rights from OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) in order to stream our first 2 matches. We don't know the specific in's and out's, but we know we are VERY grateful for the support and behind the scenes magic. Listen in as we say thank you and discuss our hopes for Paralympic broadcasting in the future!

Link to CBC Sports' streaming schedule: today:https://www.cbc.ca/sports/streaming-schedule?sport=Sitting+Volleyball

As far as we know, all other sitting volleyball countries will not have their games streamed the first 3 days. We can't wait for the day that we aren't even having this conversation. If you'd like to continue supporting, you can e-mail OBS and tell them how much you'd like to see ALL sitting volleyball (and ALL Paralympic sports) covered for their ENTIRE competitions!

Today’s episode was recorded in the middle of July right before the Olympics began. We discuss a few hot button issues going on in Paris such as the hijab ban for French athletes, and water quality issues with the Seine. Most of the episode is us discussing our current training preparations for the Paralympics, the sitting volleyball women’s pools, and of course, a broadcasting update!

As always, we hope you learn something and enjoy hanging out with us!

Follow along on socials:

Take a Seat Instagram: ⁠@takeaseatcast⁠

Heidi’s Instagram: ⁠@heidipeters__⁠

Nicole’s Instagram: ⁠@nicoleban_⁠

Canada’s Sitting Volleyball Instagram: ⁠@canadawsittingvb⁠

Links to topics discussed today:

French Athlete Hijab Ban:  https://amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/hijab-bans-discriminatory-olympics-paralympics/

Sport Ethics Examiner’s “5 Essential Issues at Paris 2024 You Should Know”: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9fCyNwoI23/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==https://www.instagram.com/p/C9fCyNwoI23/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

CPC and CBC/Radio Canada’s current partnership through 2024 and 2026 Games: 

https://www.cbc.ca/mediacentre/press-release/cbc-radio-canada-and-canadian-paralympic-committee-partner-to-broadcast-202

CBC’s Paralympic Streaming Schedule: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/paralympics/streaming-schedule **keep an eye out  if you can find sitting volleyball as we move closer to the Paralympics starting August 28th!

Today’s episode was recorded at the end of May when we hung out with Danielle after a weekend of training in Edmonton. We had a great time discussing Danielle’s journey into para sport from able bodied sport, her Paralympic experiences, views on leadership, and her love of volleyball. 

Danielle was part of the initial women’s sitting volleyball team in Canada in 2008, and after a break, came back to join the team for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Since then she has trained tirelessly to better herself and inspire those around her. She is her team's captain and believes in leading from a place of vulnerability and belief in order to bring the best out of her teammates. We have both known Dan for a long time now, and it is a continual privilege to grow the game of sitting volleyball, both in Canada and internationally, alongside her. We hope you enjoy getting to know Captain Canada a little better :) 

Danielle's Instagram: ⁠@danielleellis.3⁠

Canada’s Sitting Volleyball Instagram: ⁠@canadawsittingvb⁠

Take a Seat Instagram: @takeaseatcast

Heidi’s Instagram: @heidipeters__

Nicole’s Instagram: @nicoleban_

Today’s episode was recorded in early June when we hung out with Katie online for close to 2 hours! Don’t worry, only about an hour of it made it into the episode but oh how we love chatting with like-minded people. Katie stands out in the world of sitting volleyball on court, but also with her off-court advocacy. Because of this, we had a lot of interactions with Katie since our paths started crossing in 2015 but this was different as we got to sit down and learn more about the human behind the sitting volleyball legend that she is!

In this episode, Katie discusses her internalized ableism, the need to use the word Paralympian, her journey through 4 consecutive Paralympic Games, and navigating a new season of motherhood while competing. We have always respected Katie’s competitive drive and natural leadership, but there is truly something special about also getting to talk on a more personal level. We definitely got to know Katie better, and we hope you will too! 

Take a Seat Instagram: @takeaseatcast

Heidi’s Instagram: @heidipeters__

Nicole’s Instagram: @nicoleban_

Katie’s instagram: @ksholloway
USA’s Sitting Volleyball Instagram: @usav_sitting_wnt

On our episode, which was recorded shortly after the Slovenian Sitting Volleyball team qualified for the Paris Paralympics, we chat with Slovenian captain, Lena Gabršček. As we have only had a few conversations with Lena previously, it was extra special to sit down with her and connect over sitting volleyball and Paralympic sport. 

Lena brought perspectives on being a role model for you with disabilities, on the evolution of sitting volleyball in Slovenia and her thoughts on the growth of the Paralympics and impact the Games will have as it is hosted in Europe this summer.  

We have always admired Lena’s competitiveness and leadership from across the net but it was nice to get to know her through our conversation today. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did! 

Read about Slovenia's qualification for Paris 2024:

World ParaVolley: https://worldparavolley.org/briks-brilliant-performance-propels-slovenia-to-sensational-victory-in-womens-final-paralympics-qualifier/

Paralympics: https://www.paralympic.org/news/sitting-volleyball-slovenia-and-ukraine-qualify-paris-2024

Follow along on Instagram:

Lena: ⁠⁠@lenagabrscek⁠⁠

Slovenia Sitting Volleyball: ⁠⁠@paravolley_slovenia⁠⁠

Take a Seat Podcast: @takeaseatcast

Heidi: @heidipeters__

Nicole: @nicoleban_

On our episode today, we invited Jennifer Oakes to take a seat with us to discuss her journey with sitting volleyball as she was an indoor volleyball athlete prior. Jenn is a two-time Paralympian and is looking to make it 3 at this summer's Paris Paralympics. 

Jenn is a sister, daughter, fiance and all around amazing teammate; she makes those around her better by bringing her no-nonsense, cool-calm-collected yet competitive attitude to the court. 

Listen in to get some insight into her accident that ended in having her right leg amputated and how she navigated living with a disability and joined sitting volleyball. 

Thanks for joining us, today’s episode is a good one! 

Jenn’s Instagram : ​​⁠@jennoakes_volleyball⁠ & ⁠@_jennoakes⁠

Take a Seat Instagram: @takeaseatcast

Heidi’s Instagram: @heidipeters__

Nicole’s Instagram: @nicoleban_

Today we sat down and chatted with Sara Cirelli, an athlete on the Italian Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team and our friend! Sara is a biomedical engineer, lives in Genoa, and is a 1x Paralympian. 

Listen in to hear about Sara’s journey of finding sitting volleyball (alongside her longtime friend and current teammate Giulia) and what it means to her to be a Paralympian. She is a fierce competitor and proud to be part of the Para sport movement. We look forward to connecting with Sara many more times on and off court this summer as our teams both work towards the Paris Paralympics in August! 

Thanks for all your love and support, everyone! 

Sara’s Instagram: ⁠@saracirs⁠

Take a Seat Instagram: @takeaseatcast

Heidi’s Instagram: @heidipeters__

Nicole’s Instagram: @nicoleban_