Italian anti-doping campaign in the national high school context

Aim: The doping phenomenon poses a threat to sport worldwide, including in Italy. It undermines the principle of open and fair competition. It is a demotivating factor for sport in general, and puts athletes under unreasonable pressure. It dramatically dishonors the image of sport and poses a serious threat to individual health. Studies have revealed that doping is not only a plague affecting professional sports, but amateur athletes are also making increasingly use of performance- enhancing drugs [1]. Doping has thus become an issue afflicting the entire society. For these reasons, this project was targeted to spread a healthy anti-doping culture in sampled high schools of North Italy, and sports Lyceum nationwide. Methods: A tailored education and a core anti-doping information was disseminated by 30 experts (FIDAL managers, academic lecturers) reaching 12,000 pupils of 104 public high schools, during 138 seminars from October 2016 through May 2017. Results: According to a multifaceted body of information including questionnaires, scenario-analysis, and group discussion, gathered during a 2-h seminar in each school, young students resulted to be unprepared to the doping phenomenon however they revealed themselves as potential messengers of a fair philosophy of sport. Conclusions: This project would represent a key strategy to protect the integrity of sport. It outlined a comprehensive education program to inform students and amateur athletes about their anti-doping rights and responsibilities, but also to engage young and pure human resources into the anti-doping battle. Reference https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources