Integrative Outreach Summary

This report was created to help the Florida Sports Committee understand why Clear Choice Coaching will want to partner and incorporate the sport phycology discipline in our practices to help us with our approach to recruit, retain and develop our coaches. This report was created to bring attention to the benefits of working together with coaches and sport psychology professionals to help advance and implement reliable yearly platforms of activities that carry out quality measurable assessments. We concentrate in coaching Soccer, Basketball, Tennis and Football. We are confident by integrating this discipline we will develop increased efficiency, knowledge sharing and transfer of improved skills to our athletes. We can see the benefits that

Since the original Olympic Games in ancient Greece, athletes have struggled to find a way to gain the competitive edge. Early rituals included consuming wine and brandy before an event, eating potent mushrooms, and even concocting magic potions thought to give the athlete improved performance ability (Phillips, 2000, p.53). A constant battle has been fought as the International Olympic Committee struggles to keep drug testing up-to-date and effective. We have come to associate drug use with a few famous names of fallen heroes, such as Ben Johnson and the most recent, C.J. Hunter, but few people realize just how widespread drug use is in Olympic sports and how small a

There are over 450,000 athletes competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) level across 24 different sports in the United States (NCAA, 2012). What psychological qualities separate the successful student athlete from the non-successful student athlete (i.e., a student athlete who completes their eligibility and graduates, or gets drafted into the professional level)? We know sport psychology and mental performance training can assist athletes in achieving peak performance by teaching confidence, goal setting, imagery, mental toughness, how to deal with pressure, relaxation, positive self-talk and more (Shemake, 2014). This study aims to identify if certain student athletes posses some of these characteristics without

Performance enhancing drugs are more prevalent, needed, and dated than many know. Athletes do not feel ashamed or the need to hide their use of performance enhancing drugs. Performance enhancing drug use is a universal thing, and using them has been prevalent in the Olympics since 1968 to present. In the 1970’s many Olympic weightlifters openly admitted to using steroids (Miller). If athletes on an international level would admit to performance enhancing drug use, all who use performance

Numerous athletes struggle with drug abuse and substance abuse. Athletes sometimes form addictions to drugs prior to entering their sport and have a hard time quitting their addiction. Drug Rehab states, “However, like millions of Americans, athletes grapple with drug and alcohol addictions.” Drug Rehab also goes on to say, “rarely a day passes without news of a player entering rehab, failing a drug test, partying lavishly, or over dosing on a substance.” Professional sports enable substance abuse. Many athletes are paid large sums and can access drugs easily. Easy access to drugs has shattered the lives of many

A study was conducted on the psychological responses and coping behaviors that athletes present to Athletic Trainers (ATs), psychosocial strategies ATs currently use with their athletes, psychosocial strategies ATs deem important to learn more about, and ATs' current practices in referring athletes to counseling or sport psychology. services (Clement, Granquist, Barrow, 2013). This takes place online by using a survey of both quantitative and qualitative items. By having 215 Athletic trainers participating (86 male, 129 female) one

Doping has widely become known as the use of banned substances and practices by sports personnel particularly athletes in an attempt to improve sporting performances. No sensible fan of sport today denies the prevalence of drugs in virtually every major sport, yet none would argue they can ever be eliminated completely. Money alone would seem to guarantee that much. High profile athletes today are competing for high stakes, not just millions, but dozens of millions. The fear of losing everything career, opportunity, contracts, name, fame, and money is pushing more sportsmen all over the world to use performance enhancing drugs, mainly

Evidence suggests that despite comprehensive and ongoing deterrence and detection efforts by antidoping agencies (e.g., World Anti- Doping Agency [WADA]), the use of banned performance-enhancing substances among elite athletes remains pervasive in many sport disciplines (Alaranta et al., 2006; Backhouse, McKenna, Robinson, & Atkin, 2009; Laure & Binsinger, 2007). In addition to the moral and ethical issues arising from transgression of antidoping legislation, long-term use of many banned performance- enhancing substances confers serious side effects deleterious to the health of athletes (Lentillon-Kaestner, Hagger, & Hardcastle, 2012; Pipe & Ayotte, 2002) (Chan et al. 241-42).

The first time drugs was reported in sports is that an American professor of medicine found that cocaine could improving the hiking performance of his students (Mehrdad& Hajar & Mohammad-Ali，2012). And today in North America, many athletes still try to get better results in competition by using drugs in their daily life or before games. Actually, athletes can get kinds of help by taking medicine according to control the dosage to rules. By taking allowed medicine moderately, athletes can strengthen their muscles and can be more energetic in a short period. However, some drugs are able to damage human body and some of sportsmen who use illicit drugs could be sent into jails. So, drugs in sports in North

One issue that sports have been facing recently is that of doping. The article “A qualitative analysis of the experiences of elite athletes who have admitted to doping for performance enhancement”, published in the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, by Kate Kirby, Aidan Moran, and Suzanne Guerin, provides insight as to the motives of athletes who dope, as well as what may help to deter doping in athletes. Kirby, Moran, and Guerin chose to look at athletes who had previously participated in doping. They wanted to look at possible reasons for the athletes’ doping, how that doping affected them socially, and the effectiveness of doping discouragements. Five elite male athletes who had admitted to doping agreed to participate in

In the world of sports, performance enhancing drugs has been a subject of great concern. Whether it was the “steroid era” of Major League Baseball in the 1990’s or the Lance Armstrong controversy, there has been a concerted effort to clean up the sports industry. But, according to the journal “Why we should allow performance enhancing drugs in sport” the crusade against drugs in sport has failed, rather than fearing drugs in sport, we should embrace them (Savulescu, 2004).

The use of performance enhancing drugs is undermining the integrity of the Olympic games.  It is impossible to accurately determine the number of athletes who use them, but it is believed that a substantial percentage do.  According to an anonymous Soviet coach, "Perhaps 90% of sportsmen, including our own, use drugs" (CASA 40).  One reason it is difficult to determine how many athletes "dope" is that in international events like the Olympics, the methods used to detect the use of these drugs simply are not effective.  So, although only a few athletes are caught, many benefit from their use of performance enhancing drugs.  It is unfortunate and unacceptable that such high level competition be marred by athletes' drug use.  The

Being psychologically prepared for sports is a large part of success. The way an athlete thinks affects the way he or she feels and how he or she performs. Professional baseball player, Carl Hubbell understood the mental aspect. “I had no chance of controlling a ball game until I first controlled myself” (Hall). Serious athletes and teams, such as Tiger Woods and the Chicago Cubs, have hired professional sports psychologist who are considered equally as valuable as physical trainers.

Even with the fact that the Olympic Games should be perceived as being a happy event that influences society as a whole to direct its interest toward concepts like sports and health, they are often responsible for generating some of the most intriguing controversies. Drug testing has progressed greatly during the recent years and it is difficult and almost impossible for an athlete to take drugs that are not accepted by the International Olympic Comittee. Even with this, many risk losing their career and significantly affecting their health in an attempt to be better than other competitors. The IOC needs to get actively involved in providing education for athletes worldwide with the purpose of discouraging the use of drugs that are not accepted.

Finding the answer to the adamant question presented for the research of Drug Use Among Athletes and Its Everlasting Consequences, was all too simple. Statistics “suggest that 60 percent of athletes take drugs”, approximately 45 of this 60 percent do not get treatment or consequences, and the athletes who do get caught have little to no consequences on their first offense. The world turns their blind-eye to most athletes, without thinking of the future to come. The most significant way to fix this problem is by enforcing the rules to the present and future players and teaching them the pros and cons of using drugs while in the mist of their athletic career. Good things about using drugs includes muscle building, increased physical appearance,