Newsletter
August 2014, Football 7-A-side
Research Tom Koster
Tom Koster, student sport management and health at the university of Nijmegen (the
Netherlands), did his internship at CPISRA. In 2015, CPISRA is going to establish an
international organization for CP football, called the IFCPF (International Federation
of Cerebral Palsy Football). With the establishment of this association, CPISRA wants
to professionalise CP Football. Via research, CPISRA wants to see how the
associations can professionalise further. In the light of this development, the
following objective was drawn up: „The aim of the research is to make
recommendations to CPISRA and the IFCPF regarding the most optimal mode of
organisations for CP Football Associations which belong to CPISRA by using
qualitative research to examine policy, structure, finance, law, HRM, talent
development and future of the CP Football Associations.
CPISRA will use this information during the workshops and coach education courses they present in the different
countries. The countries will be able to use this information by starting F7AS in their countries. If there is already
F7AS, we hope this information will help the federations to develop the sport. The report will soon be sent to all
member countries of CPISRA.
European Championship
This year the European Championship was organised in Maia, Portugal. The Football 7-a-side European Championship
was a qualifier for the 2015 World Championships in England. The European Championships was the biggest
regionally organized tournament ever in the history of Football 7-a-side. The Football 7AS European Championship
included 11 countries. There were three pools; two pools of four teams and one pool with three countries. Former
European Champion Ukraine obviously wanted to defend his title in Portugal. They played a heavy game against
England in the pool phase. England showed that they developed as a team and individually during the last few years.
In the last minute of regular time, Ukraine scored the 1-1.
Not only England showed that they have developed - even the Portuguese team played attractive football. The overall
level of CP football showed to have improved over the last years. Important to mention is that Germany took part for
the first time in the history of the European Championships. With a young team they showed that they have a lot of
potential for the future.
The final was played between The Netherlands and Ukraine. Ukraine and the Netherlands played two nerve-wracking
semifinals against Russia (Ukraine) and Ireland (Netherlands). The final was won 3-0 by Ukraine. This means that
Ukraine defended his title and can call themselves the European Champion again.
Total result:
1. Ukraine 2. Netherlands 3. Russia 4. Ireland 5. England 6. Scotland 7. Portugal 8. Northern Ireland 9. Germany 10.
Denmark 11. Finland.
August 2014
Interview Kevin Wermeester (Captain German CP Football team)
Germany took part in the European Championships in Portugal for the first
time in history of the German CP football. Kevin Wermeester, captain of the
German CP football team stated: "I am very proud to be the captain of the
German team. It's our first international tournament. We have played against
Russia, one of the best CP football countries in the world. The level was very
high, this was a great experience. In preparation of this tournament we
trained every weekend over the last four months. During these training
stages we worked very hard to make some progress. By participating the
European Championships, I hope that the German CP football gets more
attention. I hope the sport can grow further in Germany. Maybe someday in
the future the German national football will win the World Cup just like the regular national football team!”
Stuart Sharp (new head coach of the US)
Since January 2014 Stuart Sharp is the new head coach of the US Paralympic soccer team. CPISRA asked him some
questions about his work for the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Stuart, do you like your new job at the USPS?
“I am loving my time working for the U.S. Soccer Federation and with a talented group of Paralympic 7-a-side Football
(Soccer) players. When I was offered this position as Head Coach I said yes without hesitation. It was an excellent
opportunity to get back on the touchline and experience, once again, the match-day adrenaline after spending over
two years working behind the scenes for CPISRA in the global development of the sport. Also, from afar, I have
always admired a number of the U.S team players and their desire to do their best for their nation, therefore I knew
this would be any exciting journey to be part of”.
What are your responsibilities? Only coaching or also the development of CP Football in the United States?
“My role is to look at all aspects of the game from grassroots to international level and aid in its development across
the nation. Although the population of the U.S dwarfs many other nations in the world, the challenge is not only to
find Paralympic eligible players but also to find players who have played Football before. Football (Soccer) in the U.S,
although it is growing in popularity, tends to be the fifth choice sport for children over here, therefore the analogy I
always draw in terms of my time in working in the UK is it is like be trying to find players for a Scottish Paralympic
cricket team”!
Can you tell me something about the team? (training frequency, players, youth, development etc.)
“Currently the structure we have only allows for one squad to train on a monthly basis therefore we are heavily reliant
on potential or new players developing their skills and game awareness out with our national team structure.
Although we are extremely privileged in having the opportunity to train once per month this can bring its own
challenges and it requires a budget to fly players in from across the land mass that is America and also for them to
get released (which is not always possible) from their work or studies. However, at this stage I certainly have no
complaints as so far the commitment that U.S. Soccer, The US Olympic Committee and of course the USPNT players
and staff have shown has been exemplary”.
What are your goals and what is the goal of the team?
“As you would expect, like any nation, we have a long-term vision to be highly competitive on the world stage,
however the staff and players are very aware that this will be a process and not something that will just happen
overnight or during one quadrennial. The landscape of Paralympic 7-a-side Football is constantly changing with more
nations joining the sport and professionalism becoming the norm amongst the top 8 countries in the world, therefore
keeping pace and challenging the leading nations is a task we are focused on”.
“Personally, apart from developing a world class structure within the U.S , I would like to continue my role in helping
developing the sport globally and supporting organizations away from elite sport to use sport as vehicle to implicitly
change people‟s lives”.
August 2014
Research Raul Reina: Agitos Foundation (IPC) granst a research project for evidencebased classification research in CP Football
The International Paralympic Committee's development arm, the Agitos Foundation, granted 80% of a
research project entitled “Improving reliability and validity of current classification methods for athletes
in classes FT5-FT8 and T35-T38”. This project was awarded among 28 IPC Member organizations from
around the world that receives EUR 650.000 of funding through the second edition of this Grant
Support Program. The remaining 20% has been founded by CPISRA and Miguel Hernández University
(Spain).
The project is led by Professor Raúl Reina (Miguel Hernandez University), Head of Classification for CP Football, in
cooperation with University of Queensland (Australia), where IPC recognizes a reference center for evidence
classification research in physical impairments.
Current classification methods are: qualitative (not quantitative); do not give clear guidance regarding differences
between classes. Consequently classification reliability (i.e., confidence that the same athlete classified by two
different classifiers will get the same class) and validity (i.e., confidence that athletes are in the correct class) has to
improve. Last 2013 CPISRA International Cup, data from 10 national teams were acquired to evaluate motor and
football skills: power, strength, balance, running, agility, coordination, jumping, kicking and dribbling thanks also the
support of CPISRA and the cooperation with the Sports Research Centre of Miguel Hernández University to develop
evidence-based classification. This project continues that research action, analyzing performance on 22 motor and
specific football test in 50 international-level CP football players, each of which has i) objective, quantifiable
outcomes; ii) clear protocols; iii) established reliability; and iv) minimal equipment requirements (e.g. stopwatch, tape
measure), and their performance was video-recorded.
Players‟ performance will be analyzed by 16 international senior classifiers to match classifiers decisions with the
results of objective tests results. This will allow us to improve the description of the class profiles of FT5-8 using
objective standardized criteria, thereby enhancing the reliability and validity of these classes.
New federation IFCPF
From January 1st Football 7-a-side will be governed by a new
Federation IFCPF International Federation of CP Football. The first
president of the new federation is Sandy Hermiston, the current
secretary general of CPISRA. Sandy has given a presentation of the
new federation at the European Championships and will also do so at
the America Cup ,Toronto, Canada in September and at the Asian
Para Games, Incheon, South Korea in October. Members will be
updated at the General Assembly in Barcelona in October.
Website: www.ifcpf.com under Construction.
UEFA
CPISRA Football Committee is partner of UEFA‟s Football Social Responsibility project. Articles are published in the
July/August edition of the UEFA•direct Magazine and on the UEFA website: http://www.uefa.org/social-
responsibility/news/newsid=2134855.html
Program / events 2014:
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Football 7-a-side America Cup, September 19th – 27th 2014
Asian Para Games, October 18th – 24th 2014
Workshop Wales, November 2014
Do you want to organize a workshop/coach education course Football 7-A-side, contact:
tom.langen@planet.nl
For more information about Football 7-A-side visit: www.cpisra.org
August 2014