Whanganui student athletes get anti-doping message

Drugfree Sport NZ rep Aidan Kaho warns secondary school students at Wanganui Collegiate about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs and supplements yesterday.

The anti-doping in sport message targeting teenagers was hammered home in Whanganui secondary schools this week.

Aidan Kaho from Drugfree Sport NZ peddled the message that performance-enhancing drugs, and more specifically supplements, were inherently too dangerous to experiment with.

Co-ordinating with Sport Whanganui, he hosted workshops at City College, Girls College and Whanganui High School on Tuesday and Wanganui Collegiate, which was also attended by Cullinane College students, then WHS again, followed by Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Tupoho as part of Drugfree Sport NZ's "Good Clean Sport" programme.

The visits came at a time when the possibility of drug use at major school sports events has been thrown into the spotlight after Drugfree Sport confirmed it will be testing random players involved in the Top Four 1st XV playoffs in Palmerston North next month.

The organisation said the decision was prompted by mounting concerns over college players either doping or taking banned supplements in the face of pressure to perform.

"Our message has been very well received. It's all about educating about the potential dangers of supplements in particular. It's come about through the rhetoric around random testing in schools," Kaho said.

"Supplements are so easy to find in today's digital environment and kids don't even need to step inside a supplement shop. When I was at school playing sport, it was all about bigger, better, faster and the pressure to put on weight for rugby."

The trouble is, he said, was that supplement users were totally unaware of what they were actually taking.

Wanganui Rugby Union boss Bridget Belsham said there were no issues, or evidence that performance-enhancing drugs or supplement use was widespread on her patch.

"We certainly haven't heard of any cases or event concerns," Belsham said.

Same too for Whanganui athletics guru Alec McNab who also has a high profile nationally and internationally.

The Wanganui Collegiate School master said he did not know of any cases in track and field or cross country circles.

"I guess it's only natural teenagers love to experiment and it's so easy in today's digital world, but the problem is they simply don't know what they are putting inside their bodies and even whether it works or not," McNab said.