SPORTS STARS: How well does a sports focused physiotherapy group for children with Cerebral Palsy improve movement and sports participation.

Sports Stars is a fundamental movement skills therapy using variable practice to prepare children with CP for participation in sports. Therapists will be provided with an online package of intervention documents which detail the intervention. These will be accessed through CPL’s intranet. The session plans detail the intervention provided each week with 3 levels of difficulty. Equipment utilised in these groups included basic sporting equipment such as balls, bats and goals. Sports Stars includes 8 x 1 hour weekly group sessions held after school. Each session includes 50 minutes of active participation in the group and 10 minutes for welcome/subjective review/discussion. Therapy sessions: Each session included the following sections: 1. Warm up (5 minutes) 2. Activity- Locomotor Skills (15 minutes) - Running - Agility - Coordination 3. Activity- Object Control Skills (15 minutes) - Sending (kicking, batting, throwing, heading) - Receiving (stopping, catching) 4. Participation- Modified Sports Game (10 minutes) 5. Cool Down (5 minutes) Each activity includes 3 levels of difficulty that children can progress up when they are achieving the previous level as demonstrated within the group. Activities in Sports Stars should be challenging but achievable. Sports Stars is a face to face group intervention held with 3-6 participants. The group runs for 8 weeks and includes variable practice of the above categories using four sports: Soccer, Netball, T-ball and Cricket. Two weeks are allocated to each sport to provide variation in activity whist still developing the same key movement skills described. Reminder calls will be made the day before the group and attendance will be monitored by the physiotherapist running the group with an attendance register to be completed each session. Physiotherapists with at least one year’s experience working with children with Cerebral Palsy in a community setting will provide the Sports Stars intervention. Physiotherapists will undergo a training course on the Sports Stars program in addition to having access to video resources throughout the program.