WATCH ABOVE: Austin Hinchey is an outstanding athlete who actually excels when he’s sitting. John Sexsmith explains.
EDMONTON – Serve is always up for Austin Hinchey. The 23 year old is a veteran with Canada’s Paralympic Volleyball Program.
“Almost eight years I’ve been playing for Team Canada. It’s just an honour to be able to represent your country in sport and doing something I love to do.”
Hinchey was born with Brittle Bone Disease in his left leg. After numerous operations to correct the condition, Hinchey and his family allowed doctors to amputate – just above the calf.
“I had a number of surgeries and nothing really worked,” he said during a recent interview at the Saville Community Sports Centre.
“So when I was 10, we decided to amputate my leg and see if that would allow me to be more active.”
It did. Plus a prosthetic device made a definite difference.
“I played everything growing up. I played a lot of hockey. I played soccer. I played basketball through high school. I love to golf and ski and those are things that I still do a lot of as well.”
But more than anything, the full-time business student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) is passionate about volleyball. He fell in love with the sport during junior high.
As Hinchey became more adept at able-bodied volleyball, he also realized he had the skill and the strength to take the game sitting down.
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“I guess it’s kind of unique that when I sit down to play Sitting Volleyball, playing without my prosthetic actually makes me better and allows me to move faster and better on the court.”
Now, he’s a long-serving member of the Men’s National Sitting Volleyball Team. Hinchey became part of the program in 2007.
“It’s a unique experience to represent your country in an athletic way and to compete internationally wearing a maple leaf. So it has really just been a privilege for me to play for so long.”
Hinchey has worked hard to sit down on the paralympic job.
“I’m part of CIBC Team Next,” a sponsorship program designed to help high-achieving athletes reach their full potential, in sport and in life. Hinchey in one of 67 athletes, from across the country, who have been selected to Team Next. The next generation of elite-level athletes really are a team.
“Talking with them and being involved with that kind of culture helps to bring motivation.”
Motivation comes at a premium for a man who does much of his conditioning and training by himself. Members of the National Men’s Sitting Volleyball team are spread out across the country.
“It’s really tough for us to get together all the time to train, so we train locally, in regional centres… And then we meet for training camps as a team before major events.”
Hinchey stands six-foot-two. But his upper body isn’t hard to miss – even when he’s sitting.
“You’ve got to have healthy shoulders and a healthy back and a lot of strength and power to be able to move around and play match after match.”
The court for Sitting Volleyball is smaller and the net is lower than the able-bodied sport. Sitting Volleyball was introduced to disabled athletes at the 1976 Paralympic Games in Toronto.
Hinchey is aimed on the Ontario capital for the Para Pan-Am Games this August and then the Rio Paralympics in 2016. Either way, he rarely rests while sitting down.
“My number one goal is going to Rio right now and competing in the Paralympics there. So Toronto is my qualifier for that. My training and my focus is getting there and qualifying for Rio.”
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