Cerebral Palsy Sport Football Programme
Cerebral Palsy Sport are pleased to announce some very exciting developments in their CP
Football Programme which will allow the charity to offer more football opportunities to more
players across the country. Firstly we have a new Football Development Officer, Sam Turner, who
joined the team at the beginning of February. Sam joins the team with an excellent knowledge of
disability football both at grassroots and through professional clubs and the England National setup. I’m sure you’ll join us in welcoming Sam to the team and hopefully you will be able to meet
him at a football event near you really soon.
CP Sport are also proud to announce Leon Taylor as our football ambassador. The highlight of
Leon’s sporting career was being selected as a member of the Great Britain team which competed
at the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008. Leon was also a Goalkeeper with the England Cerebral
Palsy Football Team from 2003-2011 and competed in international tournaments across Europe
and the rest of the world.
We were all delighted when Leon agreed to become our football ambassador and he has already
started work on helping us set up a CP Football Kickstart with Derby County FC. I’m sure you will
agree that it is a real honour for CP Sport to be able to work with Leon to help support and raise
the profile of the Football Programme and we know that he will also be involved on some of our
football events throughout the year and beyond.
CP Sport’s Football Programme has been designed to provide more playing opportunities, more
locally and more often for children, young people and adults with cerebral palsy. The programme
runs nationally with the vision of setting up regular, local and sustainable activity for players with
CP.
Sustainability is very important and the project is well supported by the Football Association as
well as local organisations such as County Football Associations, Professional and amateur charter
standard football clubs, County Sports Partnerships and local councils etc, who see a CP Specific
session as an exciting new part of their community projects.
CP Sport aims to give players the opportunity to develop individual skills within a team
environment, encased in an impairment competitive structure. Furthermore the football
programme contributes to the development of the Football Association/England Cerebral Palsy
Regional and National Squads, through talent identification and our goal is to provide player
performance pathway for elite performers, and also to provide participation opportunities for
players of all abilities.
The CP Sport football programme delivers its objectives through two different types of activities.
These are Kick-Off and Kickstart events.
The Kickstart programme has been introduced to develop new areas of sustainable CP specific
football across the country. The longer-term aim of the Kickstart programme, supported by the FA
at national level, is to put together a sustainable project that will see regular CP specific sessions in
local areas. Working with the County FAs, Wheelchair FA, Wheelpower, Hemichat, Football League
Clubs, Charter Standard Football Clubs and local charities and authorities, we will look to offer a
programme that caters for the wider community. This will encourage activity and develop playing
opportunities for all.
CP Sport, in partnership with local organisations, deliver a two to three hour session that gives
players the opportunity to participate in local football. The Kickstart programme's main objective
is to build partnerships with local providers to ensure that sustainable sessions are provided to the
players after the event has taken place.
CP Sport will continue to support all hubs of activity where possible, lending our expertise and
knowledge to ensure the long term sustainability and success of the local sessions and eventually
the development of new teams and leagues across the country.
A Kick-Off event brings together regional hubs of CP football activity to give them a chance to take
part in a local tournament in a fun safe environment, enabling the players to experience the next
level of football activity, building on the training they have received at their local sessions.
The event will also include a training element to the day to allow any new players a chance to get
involved in CP Football and any tournaments will also involve all players to ensure that everyone
gets a chance to play, no matter what their level of ability.
The event includes age and ability appropriate training sessions working around the key
FUNdamentals of football. Players will take part in a number of different activities that involve
skill-based work and small-sided games leading in to a tournaments where appropriate.
The regional Kick-Off events will eventually become the settings for a regional leagues and
competitions and provide player and club pathways in to sustainable national competitions at the
participation level of CP football activity, whilst providing development opportunities for all
involved though the FA's development pathway.
CP Sport has already run Kickstarts in 2013/14 in Coventry, Reading, Oxford, Cambridge and
Lincoln with events running in Leicester, Newcastle, Peterborough, Cardiff, Derby and Nottingham
in the next few months.
The team are already in discussions about the 2014/15 season of events with interest from
Oldham, Staffordshire, Colchester, Bristol, Norwich, Ipswich, Essex, Watford, Blackpool, London
and Sunderland already. It’s great to see the strategic decision to support local, sustainable
activity has been received so well across the country and as we work closely with our partners the
CP Sport Football Programme will go from strength to strength.
If you are interested involved in this exciting project or want the opportunity to be a part of the
action then please contact CP Sport on 0115 925 7027, email Sam at [email protected] or
visit the website on www.cpsport.org/our-sports/football/football-events for details of events and
how to be involved. We look forward to seeing you all on a pitch near you soon.