Training Missions on Nutritional Supplements for Athletes Support Personnel to Support Anti-Doping (Antidop)
Abstract
Doping is a global issue, prevalent across various sports worldwide, implicating athletes from diverse backgrounds, regions or types of sports. Moreover, unintentional violations may be caused by various factors such as lack of knowledge, contaminated supplements, use of medications that contain prohibited substances, lack comprehensive understanding of anti-doping rules, environmental contamination or medical treatments. By focusing on Nutritional Supplements (NS), which promise enhanced performance, faster recovery, improved endurance, better focus and concentration, we see that they come in various forms and contain a multitude of ingredients in diverse combinations and quantities. NS are widely used among athletes (over 82%), but not all are safe. Thus, athletes and their support personnel must make informed decisions considering potential risks taking into account a wide range of factors. AntiDop aims to train Athletes Support Personnel (ASP) comprehensively to prevent intentional or unintentional doping violations. It will cover topics like supplement usage, pharmaceuticals, and dietary plans, promoting informed decision-making. Athletes generally heed the guidance of their ASP and rely on the expertise to optimize their diet, enhance performance and achieve their athletic goals. This is the reason we focus on the training of ASP (coaches, trainers, nutritionists, managers, medical doctors, sports psychologists, parents) to make informed decisions regarding supplement usage, weighing both the potential benefits and risks. The project will develop an eLearning/mLearning platform to offer Massive Open Online Courses to effectively educate ASP utilizing interactive training content (e.g. Serious Games, gamification, simulations) for enhanced engagement. The platform will be validated with ASP representatives in six (6) EU countries in a full year pilot study, and results will be disseminated to an extended list of stakeholders and scientific forums.
Trening upotrebe dijetetskih suplemenata za sportske stručnjake u cilju podrške antidoping borbi (AntiDop)
Apstrakt
Doping predstavlja globalni problem, prisutan u različitim sportovima širom sveta i pogađa sportiste iz različitih sredina, regiona i sportskih disciplina. Neželjena (nenamerna) kršenja antidoping pravila mogu nastati iz više razloga, uključujući nedostatak znanja, kontaminirane suplemente, upotrebu lekova koji sadrže zabranjene supstance, nedovoljno razumevanje antidoping pravila, kontaminaciju iz okoline ili određene medicinske tretmane.
Poseban izazov predstavljaju dijetetski suplementi (DS) koji se promovišu kao sredstva za poboljšanje performansi, brži oporavak, veću izdržljivost, bolju koncentraciju i fokus. Dolaze u različitim oblicima i sadrže veliki broj sastojaka u raznim kombinacijama i količinama. Suplementi su izuzetno rasprostranjeni među sportistima (preko 82% ih koristi), ali nisu svi bezbedni. Zbog toga je od presudnog značaja da sportisti i njihove prateće osobe (Athlete Support Personnel – ASP) donose informisane odluke, uzimajući u obzir potencijalne rizike i sve relevantne faktore.
Cilj AntiDop projekta je da pruži sveobuhvatnu edukaciju sportskim stručnjacima (ASP) kako bi se sprečila namerna ili nenamerna doping kršenja. Obuhvatiće teme kao što su: upotreba suplemenata, lekovi, i planiranje ishrane, uz promovisanje donošenja informisanih i odgovornih odluka. Sportisti se uglavnom oslanjaju na savete i znanje svojih sportskih stručnjaka kako bi optimizovali ishranu, unapredili performanse i ostvarili sportske ciljeve. Zato je fokus projekta upravo na edukaciji ASP – trenera, nutricionista, sportskih lekara, psihologa, menadžera i roditelja – kako bi procenili koristi i rizike upotrebe suplemenata.
U okviru projekta biće razvijena eLearning/mLearning platforma sa masovno dostupnim onlajn kursevima (MOOC), koja će koristiti interaktivne edukativne sadržaje (ozbiljne igre, gejmifikaciju, simulacije) radi postizanja veće angažovanosti korisnika. Platforma će biti testirana kroz jednogodišnju pilot-studiju sa predstavnicima ASP iz šest zemalja Evropske unije, a rezultati će biti predstavljeni širokom spektru zainteresovanih strana i naučnoj zajednici.