SAFE YOU aims to dynamically contribute to anti-doping in fitness and amateur sports. To do so effectively we should abide by the following principles:
Primary prevention: We should start early on, and prevent the very onset of doping use among younger people. To do so, we need to target adolescents and young adults involved in fitness and amateur sports.
Empowerment through education: There is an imminent need to develop an anti-doping educational resource that will reflect the needs of our end-users. Through education we can provide them with all the useful resources, knowledge and capacities they need to make an informed decision about abstaining from doping use.
Strategic partnership: We cannot achieve our goals unless we commit to strategic partnerships and coalitions with key stakeholders in fitness/amateur sports, such as academic institutions, sports organizations, and education providers.
SAFEYOU involves the synergy between academic experts in doping use, and non-academic partners with a strong policy-making orientation, and vested interest and strong commitment to promote amateur sports, and ensure that sports are safeguarded against emerging threats, such as doping.
The strategic objectives of Project SAFE YOU are to:
- Identify the key risk and protective factors for doping substance use in adolescent and young athletes involved in fitness and amateur sports.
- Assess the lived experiences of young people involved in fitness and amateur sports settings, especially in relation to availability/access, promotion and purchase of doping substances.
- Co-create with adolescent and young amateur athletes an evidence-based, online education tool against doping in fitness and amateur sports.
- Develop a “train the trainers” approach to teach educators and other professionals and stakeholders how to use the SAFE YOU Tool to effectively design, implement and evaluate anti-doping interventions and educational campaigns for young people in fitness/amateur sports.
The SAFE YOU+ project
Following a succesful application, the SAFE YOU project will be extended for another two years.
The aim of the SAFE YOU+ project is to extend the existing SAFEYOU TOOL to competitive athletes, the development of a PAES information application. The SAFE YOU+ will also test the effectiveness of the Information App.
The SAFE YOU consortium welcomes on board SS Lazio, Italy, as a powerful sport organization that will significantly assist in the promotion of the SAFEYOU TOOL
