First sitting volleyball representative appointed to USA Volleyball Board of Directors

"After 10 years of playing sitting volleyball and seeing the results the men’s and women’s teams have progressed to, I am ecstatic to have the US sitting teams be included under USA Volleyball.”

Brent Rasmussen has been elected to the USA Volleyball Board of Directors as the first-ever sitting volleyball athlete representative.

The Sitting Volleyball Athlete position was added to the Board after USA Volleyball became the National Governing Body for sitting volleyball last summer. Rasmussen, elected from eligible sitting volleyball athletes who have played on the US sitting volleyball national team within the last 10 years, will represent the current men’s and women’s sitting volleyball athletes on the Board.

Rasmussen competed on the US men’s sitting volleyball team from 2003 to 2011 and served as the squad’s captain at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.

"After 10 years of playing sitting volleyball and seeing the results the men’s and women’s teams have progressed to, I am ecstatic to have the US sitting teams be included under USA Volleyball,” Rasmussen said.

Along with competing in the 2004 Paralympics, Rasmussen served as captain for both the 2006 and 2010 men’s teams competing at the World Championships. He also helped his team win the gold medal at the 2003 Parapan American Games, along with silver medals in 2007 and 2011 in the same event. He served as an athlete/player representative to the World Organisation Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) from 2006 to 2010.

"The addition of Brent Rasmussen to the USA Volleyball Board of Directors is an important step towards giving our men's and women's sitting volleyball teams a strong voice, and enhancing our role as the official governing body of sitting volleyball,” said Lori Okimura, chair of the USA Volleyball Board of Directors.