VolleyNaut: Pioneering Immersive Training for Inclusive Sitting Volleyball Skill Development

Participation in sports provides individuals with disabilities opportunities for social inclusion, improved physical and mental health, skill development, and increased self-confidence, ultimately empowering them. Sitting volleyball, a popular para-sport adapted from traditional volleyball, has been played in more than 75 countries since its development in 1956. However, the limited availability of dedicated sitting volleyball courts creates a significant gap for individuals with disabilities interested in playing the sport. To address the challenges encountered by amateur sitting volleyball players due to the lack of specialized facilities, we encompass a pioneering design study on VR para-sports training and introduce VolleyNaut - an innovative virtual reality (VR) training system. Developed in close collaboration with professional coaches, this immersive system faithfully replicates the daily drills and realistic ball pitches experienced by players. It offers four specialized basic defensive drill scenarios, contributing to skill adjustment and enhancement. In our user study, we recruited volleyball players from college teams and clubs to assess the engagement factor of VolleyNaut, and we also included national sitting volleyball players and coaches to evaluate the system’s effectiveness as a training tool. Our comprehensive analysis, combining quantitative and qualitative data, revealed consistently positive results across all user groups.