N e w s l e t t e r

CPISRA
Football 7-a-side Committee
Cerebral Palsy International Sports & Recreation Association
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EDITION 1
CPISRA 2010 Football Regional Championships Results:
European Championships, Glasgow, Scotland: Ukraine Gold Medal, Russia Silver
Medal and Republic of Ireland Bronze Medal
America’s Championships, Buenos Aires Argentina: Brazil Gold Medal, USA
Silver Medal and Argentina Bronze Medal
Para Asian Games, Guangzhou, China: Iran Gold Medal , China Bronze
Medal, Japan Bronze Medal
A full list of results for the above championships can be found on the CPISRA
website.
Classification Update:
The Executive Committee would like to announce the appointment of Claudio Nogueira
as the new Head of Classification (HC) for 7-a-side Football. Claudio began his
new post as HC on January 1st 2011 and will have his position reviewed after 1 year.
The CPISRA Football Committee would also like to take this opportunity to thank Carol Mushett for her dedication and guidance during her past 2 years as HC.
Football Committee Meeting April 2011
The Football Committee held a meeting at the KNVB
Headquarters in the Netherlands from April 7th -10th 2011.
Below are some of the key topics on the agenda:
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Coach Education Course
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Bid Documents
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Competition Schedules for 2013-2015
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Laws of the Game
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Referee and Coaches databases
The committee also received a presentation by the Host Organising Committee of the forthcoming CPISRA World
Championships. The Football Committee was extremely impressed by the content of this presentation and are
confident that the competition in June will be a great success.
The 2010 CPISRA World Championships:
A total of 16 countries qualified for the forthcoming World Championships in Drenthe June 17th -July 1st. Unfortunately two of the countries (China and South Africa) who qualified via their regional championships or raking list
were unable accept their place within the World Championships. Consequently the Football Committee are actively
working with a number of nations, in accordance to the CPISRA ranking lists, to ensure that the final two are filled.
7-a-side Football Devleopment:
The Football Committee are very please to announce that two new nations attended
CPISRA Regional Championships in 2010. In addition Portugal, Germany, Northern Ireland, Italy, Turkey, Austria, Wales and the UAE have all shown an intrest in
begining and devleoping CP football programs in the future.
Forthcoming Development Competitions:
Portugal, April 2011
Denmark, May 2011
Scotland, August 2011
Drew Ferguson, head coach of the Canadian squad, answers some questions on his experiences working
within CP football.
1. How did you become first involved in coaching CP football?
“I was putting on a able body coaching seminar, in 2005 and after the event I was approached by a board member of the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Sports Association. He introduced himself to me and then just out right asked
me if I would come on board and coach and over see the football program. I asked for a bit of time, and did some
home work and agreed that I would run their first camp for them and then make a decision after the camp. After 20
minutes of that first camp, I knew that I would enjoy the challenge and more importantly, I loved the attitude of the
athletes.”
2. What is your favourite memory of coaching the CP Canadian team?
“I
loved watching the Canadian athletes standing on the podium in Brazil in 2007 after the
Para Pan American Games with the Bronze medal around their necks. This team
in 2005 had a hard time understanding the game of football, technically
and strategically – was great to see them being rewarded for their hard
work.”
3. Off the field what is your best memory of coaching the CP
national team?
“So far two things I have enjoyed the most off the field. The
first would be watching athletes in Brazil enjoying their
evening of celebrating after their Bronze meal win. The
second would be the enjoyment after and during an event,
being able to sit down with other coaches and managers,
the classifiers and the game officials from all the countries
we compete against and enjoy each others company. I think
we all learn from each other which only helps to make this
great program stronger and bigger. In 20 years of playing
and coaching professional football, I have never seen the
camaraderie between other countries, players and staff as I do
in this program.”
4. In what ways have your experiences as an ex professional player
helped you whilst coaching the CP national team?
“One big factor is understanding that things do not always go the way
you want them to go, from travel plans, to sometimes not so good accommodations, to bad game results, to disagreements on and off the field with players and
staff etc, etc, and more importantly the decision of selecting your final roster and leaving some athletes out of the
selection. Every time a player approaches me with a complaint about something, I just go back into my 20 years of
experiences and find something worse then their concern. When I tell them what I have seen and experienced they
usually come back with WOW and on we go!”
5. Have you any tips for coaches who have just begun coaching CP footballers?
“I would say, be patient, push your athletes hard, but make sure you are working as
hard in your role as you want them to work, and more importantly, make sure you
are enjoying the role, or get out ! And remember, it is just like able body football, every player has their own personality, so again, patients!”