April 2019
Play by the Rules is very pleased to release the Parents Guide to Clean Sport online mini-course. The course has been developed by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to help parents:
- have a better understanding of the important role you play in teaching your children respect for and appreciation of the true spirit of sport, and
- be able to inform your children about how to protect themselves in their sport career in relation to performance enhancing drugs and drug use.
For young athletes, the pressure to train hard, compete and achieve at the highest level can lead them to think about taking dangerous shortcuts.
Extreme dieting, excessive training, taking supplements, and doping are things that may tempt young athletes. As a parent or guardian of young athletes you have an important role to help your children achieve their sporting goals, while also teaching them respect for and appreciation of the true spirit of sport.
You can be the consistent voice promoting safety, good health, integrity, balance, and enjoyment of clean sport throughout their pursuit of sporting excellence.
Sport can enhance work ethic, respect, friendship, joy, resilience, and healthy lifestyles. However, if these values are not ingrained, sport can also encourage cheating, lying, arrogance and winning at the expense of personal health and integrity.
The sporting culture or environment your children spend significant time in will have an impact on their thinking. Ask yourself 'is your children's sporting culture or environment a beneficial one that will enhance their growth and development?'
A Parents' Guide to Clean Sport looks at ways to create a positive sporting environment, such as good nutrition. It considers the risks of supplements and the use of medications. It will help you identify the signs and symptoms of drug use and what to do if you find out your child is doping. Most importantly, it presents a number of ways that you can help prevent your child from turning to performance enhancing substances in the first place.
The course only takes about 45 minutes to complete, is certificated and is now available in the Play by the Rules course catalogue. To find out more and register today go to the course details page here.
