Central Oklahoma’s impact immeasurable on Team USA Paralympic sitting volleyball team

Paralympian and two-time sitting volleyball gold medalist Monique Burkland Matthews said it was “fate” that she ended up in Oklahoma.

Born in Nevada, Matthews’ family followed her grandfather to Oklahoma after he received a transfer to the state. She grew up active and athletic, graduating from Plainview High School as a three-sport athlete.

But two months after graduation, Matthews’ life changed when she lost her foot in a forklift accident. Instead of softball, basketball or track, Matthews was spending time getting fitted for a new prosthetic foot. But it was at her prosthetist’s office where fate intervened.

Matthews was sitting in the office waiting room when her gaze fell on a brochure for sitting volleyball.

“I had no idea what it was or anything, but I decided to contact them to see what it was about and what I would have to do to try — to see if I liked it,” Matthews said.

The sitting volleyball program was just about 90 minutes away at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Fate, that she ended up moving so close to a place that would end up influencing her life so much.

“It was just fate that that happened,” Matthews said. “Then obviously not the best of luck of me losing my foot, but everything happens for a reason. So I felt like all those steps, it happened for a reason for me to end up here and to find this sport and become the athlete I am today.”

What started as fate has turned into a lot of success for Matthews. Matthews is a three-time Paralympian for Team USA’s sitting volleyball team and owns three medals, including two golds.

Now, she heads to the 2024 Paris Paralympics in search of a third-straight gold medal. It is a feat that likely wouldn’t be possible without UCO, Matthews said.

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UCO becoming the home of USA Sitting Volleyball

Bill Hamiter felt a calling to do more in his life. That calling was put into action in 2009 when he was asked to lead the USA Sitting Volleyball program.

Sitting volleyball is similar to its standing counterpart but with a few key differences. As the name implies, the sport is played sitting down and requires players to use their hands to both move and hit the ball.

At first the longtime assistant volleyball coach at UCO and high school coach declined the opportunity, unsure if he was ready for the big undertaking. But he soon changed his mind.

“I felt like God was telling me, ‘Hey, this is a place where you can make a difference,’” Hamiter said. “‘There's definitely an underserved population here that you can serve.’ That's kind of what edged me that way.”

Hamiter was based in Oklahoma and used his connections as a former UCO coach when it was time to decide on a training site for U.S. Sitting Volleyball. He knew if the program wanted to succeed, it needed a new training site that wasn’t Colorado Springs. After the 2004 Athens Games, he went to USA Volleyball, saying he needed a system to make good athletes into elite-level sitting volleyball players.

That’s where his experience of working at UCO came in handy.

Hamiter was already training athletes from the men’s program at UCO in 2005, just when he was looking for a home for the sitting volleyball program. By 2006 the university had earned the designation as an official U.S. Paralympic Training Site and in 2009 received the official Olympic designation — joining a select group of training sites in America.

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UCO’s director of sport and recreation, Jeff Boyland , also was a consequential figure in establishing the university as a magnet for aspiring Paralympians, and he took on the liaison duties between UCO and USA volleyball.

Boyland worked as the head coach of the volleyball program at UCO before stepping down in 2011 to work with the sport and recreation program. He finished with a career record of 192-104 in NCAA Division II, consistently finding success with the program before deciding on a different route.

Supporting adaptive athletics was not new to UCO. The university has been the site of the Endeavor Games since 2000, and has grown into one of the United States’ largest national competitions for athletes with disabilities. The United States Olympic Committee recognized UCO and the Endeavor Games with the Rings of Gold Award in 2014 for their work to help aspiring Paralympians reach their highest potential.

“It's been really kind of neat,” Boyland said. “This place has really opened their eyes I think more than a lot of places do. … Our area here has always been very, very — I would say open-minded, accommodating whatever term you want to use to this group.”

The support from UCO has gone beyond providing courts and facilities for players or offices for the staff. The university has helped put athletes through college with tuition assistance and also provided living spaces so athletes can stay for longer periods of time and even become residents, such as Mathews.

The community has rallied around the athletes, too. When the team hosted a going away event before heading for Paris on Aug. 18, the largest crowd Matthews had seen in Edmond showed out to send the team off.

Matthews said the community support has been vital to sustaining the program.

“If we need anything they do their best to accommodate for us and it's just a great experience to have so much love and support in one area,” Matthews said. “They're just so supportive and they're willing to go and get what we need to help us.”

More: Paralympics in prime time: Athletes see progress but still a long way to go

Representing Oklahoma in Paris

Because the program is based in Oklahoma, in-state participants have found their way to Edmond. The 2024 Paralympic team boasts three players who grew up in Oklahoma: Matthews, Tia Edwards and Kaleo Kanahele Maclay.

Boyland reminisced at a send-off lunch at how far the players from Oklahoma had advanced. He has relished the opportunity to watch the journey the entire way.

“They're such a good group and the coaching staff and the leadership that they have within the sitting program is top-notch,” Boyland said. “Obviously, you can tell by how well they've done in the last four Olympics and those kind of things.”

There’s pride in representing Oklahoma at the Paralympics for Matthews. She had no idea growing up in the state that sitting volleyball was a staple.

Now, she is in the middle of putting that program on the world stage.

“I like representing Oklahoma because when you see the map of athletes from different states, there really weren’t many from Oklahoma,” Matthews said. “So the few of us that actually get to represent Oklahoma, it's a great feeling to put it on the map for all of the sports.”

Matthews’ success within the program embodies what Hamiter set out to do when he took over as head coach. They wanted to give athletes with disabilities the opportunity to compete at the highest levels.

Matthews is the perfect example of his goal fulfilled. She was someone who had showcased athleticism that the program recruited. Finding that brochure at the prosthetist’s office and competing in her first world event in 2010 has turned into a success story — a story that isn’t quite finished.

“It gives us satisfaction to know that we've built a program for what the intention was for,” Hamiter said. “An athlete with a disability, that they have a place that they can come and still shine and play and show off their athletic ability.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Central Oklahoma’s impact immeasurable on Team USA Paralympic sitting volleyball team