A.A. Antseliovich¹
D.Y. Chernous¹
V.V. Loginova²
PhD K.A. Badrak^3
1Federal Science Center for Physical Culture and Sport (FRS VNIIIFK)
²Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, Moscow
³St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Physical Culture, St. Petersburg

Keywords: doping, USA, TrueSport, USADA, anti-doping educational programs.

Background. For the last few years, doping issues have been ranked among the top priorities by the global sports. Studies of the best international doping control experiences reported by the national sport systems are of a growing importance for the Russian Federation and the national and international sports science. The national doping control policies and practices are increasingly facilitated and encouraged by the relevant multilateral mechanisms, agencies and initiatives. One of such initiatives is the highly successful sporting values-prioritizing TrueSport educational program by the US Anti-doping Agency (USADA) that is designed to cultivate ethical attitudes in sports, encourage conscious fair play agendas and help athletes develop intolerance to the prohibited agents and methods. It should be mentioned that a range of anti-doping educational programs was launched as soon as the relevant doping control rules were effectuated, although they are designed predominantly for the adult sporting communities to advance commitment for the doping control policies and practices in sports. The educational programs

generally update the athletes on the valid anti-doping rules albeit these programs are never designed to directly influence or shape up the individual perceptions of doping within the personal sporting values systems and priorities.

A few years after the traditional anti-doping educational programs were launched, many national anti-doping organizations, in their assessments of the practical benefits of these initiatives, had realized that these educational programs largely failed to cultivate intolerance to doping in the sporting communities where some interests still encourage athletes to opt for prohibited agents and methods. Many have realized that the doping controls shall be strong enough at the earlier stages of the sporting careers when understanding of the sporting values, priorities ​​and basic ideas about fair play, competitive spirit and true accomplishments is formed. They realized that they shall, for the doping controls being efficient, address the very sources of the unhealthy motivations for the competitive performance boosting agents. Based on this understanding, a few modern values-prioritizing educational programs have been developed to form genuine ethical attitudes to the sporting lifestyles and conscious commitments for fair play with a zero tolerance to prohibited agents and methods viewed as deception and betrayal. Anti-doping agencies in the United States, Australia and Canada were among the first to come up with their values-prioritizing educational programs.

Objective of the study was to to analyze the practical experience of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in cultivating truly ethical attitudes to sports with the athletes taking commitment for fair play with a zero tolerance to prohibited agents and methods.

Methods and structure of the study. We have analyzed for the purposes of the study the key doping-control educational program-related theoretical and practical study reports to facilitate the national anti-doping efforts.

Results and discussion. Having analyzed the USADA experience, we found that intolerance to doping should be cultivated from an early age. The first purposeful initiative in this context was launched for the junior athletes by USADA in 2013 when it came up with its “100% Me, My Choices Matter” Project for the 10-14 year old schoolchildren [1] in form of the optional doping-awareness classes. In 2004 the project was supported by the www.usadakids.org website that offers interactive training materials for these classes [2]. In 2007, the initiative was further advanced by the www.ThatsDope.org website for the adolescent (14-20 years old) sporting population – to increase its awareness in the doping control issues, competitive fitness and nutritional supplements and cultivate a true commitment for the healthy doping-free sports [3]. It was in 2008 that the USADA established its Outreach Education Department for the socially sensitive education geared to promote ethical values ​​in sports and cultivate zero tolerance to doping ideology in the American sporting communities [4].

In 2009 the USADA developed, in collaboration with the Discovery Education, its True Sport Awards program designed to promote fair, safe and healthy lifestyles in the youth communities [5]. In 2011 the USADA came up with a survey report “What is the meaning of sports for America: analyzing the role of sports for society” with analyses of the social attitudes to the modern sports and the relevant expectations and behavioral models of the national unsporting population and different athletic groups. The survey found that sports are perceived pivotal for the national character and culture shaping purposes. The respondents ranked high such sporting values as honesty, respect for the opponent and teamwork. The survey also found that most of the Americans tend to believe that the competitive accomplishments are given too much importance at sacrifice of the fundamental values that need to be promoted by the modern sports. Thus they believe that violations of the ethical codes for the unhealthy must-win agendas including usage of prohibited competitive performance boosting agents are of grave threat for the genuine values of a true sporting culture [6, 10].

As a result of the growing national doping awareness, a new TrueSport program was launched in 2012 to consolidate the relevant prior USADA initiatives and for further promotion of the genuine ethical values in the youth sporting communities. The program was intended for the sporting children, adolescents, their families and trainers – to help the young athletes cultivate true sporting values and priorities for success in sports and everyday life, and support their trainers and families in their own values and motivations fostering initiatives. The program is based on the following three pillars: truly sporting behavior, sporting character building and healthy lifestyle [8]. The TrueSport program benefits from contributions of the leading experts in relevant fields, including those highly successful and professional in servicing the young sporting communities. In addition, the program invites the national sport celebrities to share their competitive experiences with the audience. The program classes prioritize rather the values-driven cultures in the sporting communities than the specific knowledge and skills as such.

To encourage the children’s interest, the training materials are offered in the highly appealing interactive formats including the modern applications for smartphones and playbooks, plus video tutorials and colorful booklets. The theoretical studies are complemented by practical sport camp trainings to advance the sporting values in the team games and meetings with sport celebrities. The TrueSport program is implemented in practice by trainers successful in the special training course and certified for this specific service, and acting in cooperation with the athletes’ families. The TrueSport initiatives are facilitated by the sport ambassadors, national team members and many other sport celebrities that make their contributions to the efforts to further popularize the program, give children the role models and inspire them by their own success stories. The sport ambassadors often join the events in the field sporting camps where they informally communicate with the teenage athletes, answer their questions and share their success stories, with a special attention to the sporting ethical values. The TrueSport team is highly active in the modern popular social networks including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter viewed as the best information channels to update the young audience on the doping control, fair play and healthy lifestyle related issues.

The materials analyze in accessible terms findings of the relevant studies to help the young athletes build up their healthy agendas and motivate them for honest sporting lifestyles. Mission of the TrueSport program is not limited by the training as such but also encourages the trainees’ own contributions to the educational process. The program offers materials of special importance both for the sporting and everyday lifestyles of the adolescent audience. The TrueSport educational programs includes the “Teach”, “Learn” and “Play” modules, with every of them customized to the practical needs if its target group.

Thus the Teach module offers special education materials for the coaches, instructors and sport managers serving the young athletic groups. The Learn module is designed for the trainees’ families and mentors – to equip them with knowledge of the key issues of importance for the young athletes’ supporters. Both of the modules help the families and mentors cultivate the ethical values ​​and priorities in their children, assist them in the situation-specific responses, behavioral modeling and maturing processes. And the Play module is designed for the young athletes in a most accessible, interactive and appealing format.

The TrueSport program is supported and disseminated by a network of its partner sports organizations that have joined the program and appreciate its practical benefits for their athletes and service personnel. As things now stand, 47 sports organizations have joined the program including the national federations, youth organizations, sport schools and multisport service organizations. As reported by the USADA, the program is getting increasingly popular as at least 10 million young athletes, their family members and coaches were reported to benefit in one way or another from the TrueSport program in 2018 only [7]. The TrueSport accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have more than 9,000 subscriptions; and, no less important, the program has managed to reach, through a wide range of its communication channels and partner organizations, about 3.5% of the US population, and this is the sign of its growing popularity and effectiveness.

Conclusion. The TrueSport anti-doping program being implemented in the US may be viewed as an excellent case of a systematic and effective outreach initiative highly successful in the efforts to foster intolerance to doping and encourage awareness in the doping control issues in the young athletic communities and their mentors, with the accomplishments of the program being highly useful for the similar initiatives in many other countries, with reasonable customization to the local specifics. Educational program of this kind need to be developed and implemented to cultivate the zero tolerance attitudes to doping in schoolchildren, university students, young athletes and their families, to contribute to progress of the global sports on a doping-free basis.

References

1. USADA Annual Report 2003 [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/2003_annual_report.pdf
2. USADA Annual Report 2004 [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/2004_annual_report.pdf
3. USADA Annual Report 2007 [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/2007_annual_report.pdf
4. USADA Annual Report 2008 [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/2008_annual_report.pdf
5. USADA Annual Report 2009 [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/2009_annual_report.pdf
6. USADA Annual Report 2011 [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/2011_annual_report.pdf
7. USADA Annual Report 2018 [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/2018_annual_report.pdf
8. About us – TrueSport [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://truesport.org/about-us/
9. We Value Champions. We Champion Values [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://truesport.org/wp-content/uploads/TSAboutUs.pdf
10. What Sport Means in America: A study of Sport’s Role in Society [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://truesport.org/wp-content/uploads/TSWhatSportMeans.pdf

Corresponding author: rudra54@yandex.ru

Abstract

In recent years, the problem of doping in sports has been one of the most discussed ones in world sports. The study of international expertise in the prevention of substances and methods prohibited for use in sports and the anti-doping measures is especially important for the Russian Federation and one of the most important directions of development of the modern sport science.

The article considers the problem of development of zero tolerance to doping in athletes from a young age. The value-based educational program of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) TrueSpor, aimed to form an ethical approach to sports, within the framework of which athletes make a conscious choice to fight honestly and abandon the idea of using prohibited substances and methods is considered as a successful example of the program implementation. The TrueSport program was launched in 2012. Its target audience included sporting children and adolescents (10-20 years), as well as their trainers and parents. This program helps young athletes to acquire the skills and values that are necessary to achieve sports results, and help trainers and parents to form a value-based approach. The article concludes that the value-based educational program USADA TrueSport is an example of successful educational work in sports community and can be used as a model to be implemented in other countries depending on national peculiarities.