SportAccord carries out anti-doping education at the 2012 CMAS Junior World Championship

SportAccord's Doping-Free Sport Unit (DFSU) joined the CMAS tournament that took place in Graz, Austria, from 15 to 20 July 2012. The DFSU staff supported the participating young athletes and their coaches through on-site training in anti-doping.

WADA's Outreach model was used as the core element of the programme to raise awareness. In addition to the anti-doping educational material provided, athletes were encouraged to participate in the Play True Quiz and test their knowledge by answering 10 multiple choice questions.

Each participant received their personal score as well as detailed explanations of the correct answers. Overall, 40% of the athletes at the event took part in the quiz and prizes were randomly drawn among all participants.

The DFSU also organised an anti-doping seminar for coaching staff and gave a presentation featuring topics such as the use of dietary supplements, recreational drugs and therapeutic use exemptions. The coach's involvement in keeping an athlete informed in anti-doping and aware of the risks of doping is essential, and consequently SportAccord believes that educating coaches has an enormous impact on athletes' compliance with the anti-doping rules. Close to 70% of the coaches attended the seminar.

SportAccord is proud of the continuing successful collaboration with CMAS and specifically to have been part of this education project. Preventing doping when athletes are still in their junior years at an early stage of their sports careers is vital and education is the best way to achieve the goal of keeping a sport clean.