John Kremer competes during the men's sitting volleyball gold-medal game at the Parapan American Games Lima 2019 on Aug. 28, 2019 in Lima, Peru.
John Kremer wants to get back to the Paralympic Games two years from now in Paris, and if the U.S. men’s sitting volleyball team qualifies, the veteran will likely be going at a different position.
Kremer has been a libero throughout his career, including playing that role at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016, but he recently moved to setter for Team USA.
It’s a change in mentality for Kremer, moving from a defensive specialist to an offensive distributor, but one that he says has fit him well thus far.
“I think it’s a good spot for me, it’s new,” Kremer said. “It’s different, but I think it’s a spot I’m learning and figuring out.”
For Kremer, and the rest of the U.S. team, it’s a positive time for American sitting volleyball. There was disappointment after failing to qualify for the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, but the U.S. men recently finished sixth at the world championships, the best-ever finish for the program.
“You have to look at it as a success because it’s the highest placement we’ve had at the team, but at the same time we are also a little bit disappointed because we didn’t place a little bit better,” Kremer said. “I think the team in general feels like we could have place one, maybe two places higher in the standings.”
At the world championships, the U.S. fell to Germany in the fifth-place match but also reached that match with it’s first-ever victory against Ukraine. Team USA also had wins against Japan, Serbia and Iraq during the tournament.
“Right now I think we are really leaning toward growing on that and the short-term goals,” Kremer said. “With Paris coming up in the next year or two, our focus is on zonals, where we will have to take on an extremely tough Canadian team and a Brazilian team. We know it’s a tough road ahead.”
Kremer served nine years in the U.S. Navy as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician 1st Class. He was injured in Afghanistan in 2010 when he stepped on a land mine and lost both legs below the knee.
