A train-the-trainer framework for adapted sports and physical activity in community disability services

People with disabilities face persistent barriers to physical activity, while community disability services often lack staff training and structured approaches to delivering adapted sport. This article presents a train-the-trainer framework designed to equip direct support professionals and community coaches to provide safe, person-centred physical activity. The framework integrates four adaptation domains rules, equipment, environment, and instruction with a population guide, a structured 60-minute session, and four participation levels progressing from initial exploration to community competition. A 16-hour curriculum combines classroom learning, practical activities, and supervised coaching, with competency-based sign-off and a subsequent pathway for training colleagues. Safety, safeguarding, participant choice, and individual care plans underpin delivery. A planned 12-month pilot with Open Arms Care Corporation in Nashville, Tennessee, will examine implementation and participant outcomes through baseline, three-month, and six-month assessments. Measures include physical activity, fitness, movement skills, individual goal attainment, well-being, social participation, safety, and staff capacity. No outcome data are currently available, and the proposed uncontrolled evaluation cannot establish causality. The framework offers a practical model for developing workforce capacity and extending access to adapted sport, subject to evaluation of feasibility, fidelity, sustainability, and participant outcomes.