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Special Olympics Athletes with Physical Disabilities
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a congenital neuromuscular condition caused by injury to the brain before, during or immediately after birth. A person with cerebral palsy can have physical and/or intellectual disabilities in varying degrees.
- Coaches must be aware of the swimmer's medical history, their abilities and their restrictions.
- Constant and continual repetition and reinforcement can reduce coordination problems.
- Swimmers may have a slower reaction time when initiating movement to commands (e.g., diving).
- May have limb movement restrictions. Therefore, the swimmer must work at their maximum capacity to enable optimum performance. The CP swimmer must be taught to move any affected limb to the best of his/her ability.
- When there is no movement of a limb, the coach must analyze where best to position the affected limb to cause the least drag for the swimmer.
- May have short-term memory loss, requiring constant and continual reinforcement of instructions, sometimes as many as two to three times per 50-meter lap.
- Circulatory problems may result; therefore, time in the pool may need to be reduced, depending on the environment. Additional stretching and flexibility exercises, weight training and land drills can all also be utilized.
- Balance problems may be experienced when diving, particularly off the blocks.
- Many CP swimmers can be very rigid. This results in problems when teaching them how to float.
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