Take A Seat

Today’s episode is mostly one long Winter Paralympic Games quiz! We brought questions for each other but naturally each question sparked some discussion, so we rolled with it. We cover MICO 2026, opening ceremonies, previous Games locations, the sports, some adaptive equipment, and both past and present legendary Canadian winter para athletes.  You’ll see and hear us get a question wrong, laugh, b...

Hi everyone! So sorry we pump faked you all with an 8 month gap in episodes. 2025 clearly needed a moment of it's own and so let’s run it back cause we LOVE a debrief.  In this episode we dive into the challenges and triumphs of the 2025 season. From navigating new team dynamics to reflecting on leadership styles, we share candid insights and personal experiences. Tune in to hear about our jou...

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 h...

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 the...

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 BRON...

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 fir...

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,...

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...

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 cro...

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 disab...

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-cal...

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 an...

Thanks for taking a seat with us today! In this episode we have added a new quiz segment, we discuss the difference between Para sport & the Paralympics and we tell you all about the favourite Paralympics we have attended.  Biggest takeaway is to call our games the PARALYMPICS, please! And if you say it wrong, we will likely correct you, don’t take offense, just be better next time.  Thanks fo...

On today’s episode we sit down with Sonja Scholten, an athlete on the German Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team. Sonja has a degree in journalism and Public Relations and currently works for the German Federal Institute of Sport Science.  Tune in to hear about how Sonja persevered after her accident, how she learned how to play sitting volleyball and how she advocates for support for her teammates wh...

On today’s episode we sit down with Team Canada Sitting Volleyball athlete, Allison Lang. Allie is a disability advocate, content creator, model, public speaker and world traveler. She has been a part of the Canadian silver medalist teams at the World Championships, PVPA Zonal Championship and most recently, the 2023 World Cup where our team qualified for Paris.  Tune in to learn more about Alliso...

This episode is all about our sport, sitting volleyball! We fill you in on how we each found sitting volleyball, what the sport is and we invite you to try it yourself!  Sitting volleyball is the Paralympic version of volleyball and is played seated on the ground. The court is smaller, the net is lower and because of that, the game is very fast.  Tune in to hear about why we love this sport so muc...

Welcome to Take a Seat with Heidi and Nicole! In this episode we explain who we are and share our journey to starting this podcast. What started as a joke about our love for having long-winded and often less spoken conversations around women in sport, para sport and sitting volleyball, turned into a reality!  It’s finally here and we are excited to have you join us. So take a seat … why? Because t...

We made a trailer, because we had to. So take a seat, because you have to. Our video podcast is a safe space to discuss all things sitting volleyball, para sport, women in sport, disability, and more. Through guest conversations we will highlight voices less heard in mainstream media. We hope you listen and learn alongside us!