A group of nine youths, all seeking to become fully-qualified anti-doping ambassadors, recently received intensive training in anti-doping issues and Fair Play during a seminar organised by the Maltese Olympics Committee (MOC).

The initiative is part of an Erasmus+ Project called PrePlay which the MOC undertook along with four other countries – Slovenia, Croatia, Latvia and Estonia.

The project ‘Doping Prevention Through Peer Learning Among Youth’ is the brainchild of the Slovenian Anti-Doping Organisation (SLOADO) who are the co-ordinators of the training programme.

The Maltese Olympic Committee are partners in the project.

The PrePlay seminar was conducted mainly by MOC director Lucienne Attard with the co-ordination of William Beck. Participants were also addressed by MOC president Julian Pace Bonello.

The seminar was very informative and presentations were made by a group of experts in the subject.

They were assisted by the first group of 10 anti-doping ambassadors who had received their training in Slovenia earlier this year.

Varied and interesting subjects were tackled, including:

History of doping and the role of WADA, doping control procedures, the prohibited list and side-effects of drugs, therapeutic use exemptions, psychology of doping, the risks of supplement use, fair play and moral and ethical issues, the global and local fight against doping in sports, anti-doping rule violations and sanctions, athlete branding and doping case law.

There were several team-building sessions held during the seminar which saw the contribution of all participants.

These served to get all candidates to get to know more about each other and work efficiently as a team.

In the coming months, the prospective Anti-Doping Ambassadors will be organising more activities to promote the drive against doping in sport, particularly among young people.