The Forum for Anti-Doping in Recreational Sport 2 project is coming to the end of its three-year lifespan. While the project was implemented mostly throughout COVID-19 confinements and restrictions, FAIR+ overcame the various difficulties and successfully delivered on its objectives! Building on the successes of the predecessor projects, the FAIR+ project set out to:
- Research and analyse the existing prevalence of doping in recreational sport through sample-based surveys and investigate the societal and psychological motivations behind the use of doping.
- Review existing educational programmes to develop evidence-led recommendations on how to set-up effective educational campaigns targeting recreational sport coaches, instructors, and trainers.
- Update the Anti-Doping Code of Conduct in a call for accountability of the recreational sport sector against the use of doping, and a commitment for future action.
- And to oversee an annual open FORUM for experts, institutions, academics and sport stakeholders to come together to debate, discuss and agree on policy directions in the area of anti-doping in recreational sport.
The full recordings and presentations of the 4th, 5th and 6th annual FAIR Forums are freely available to (re)watch and consult through the FAIR+ project webpage.
The project deliverables (intellectual outputs) can also be downloaded on the same project webpage, notably including the Guidelines for Anti-Doping Education for Coaches, Instructors, and Trainers who are actively engaged in Recreational Sport (IO3), which are available in English, Danish, Dutch, Greek, Italian, Norwegian and German.
The European Commitment to Action for Anti-Doping in Recreational Sport (IO4) offers a combination of an updated version of the Anti-Doping Code of Conduct (developed under the FAIR project) blended with the FAIR+ pledge. The latter was presented to the European Commission’s Director for Culture, Creativity and Sport (DG EAC) at the 2022 Forum in Brussels. It offers an outline of relevant areas in which policymakers and the recreational sport sector are invited to commit themselves to further raise awareness about doping in recreational sport, standardise their approach to it, and abide to the recommendations and principles it offers.
The executive summaries of the different strands of conducted research are equally available in the final FAIR+ Report, entitled as follows:
- Recreational athletes’ use of performance enhancing substances. Results from the first European Randomized Technique survey (IO1),
- Investigate the psychological motivations behind the use of doping in recreational sport (IO2),
- And the three studies that enabled the creation of the Guidelines for Anti-Doping Education:
- Map existing practices and resources related to ant-doping education for recreational sport coaches, trainers, and instructors
- Identify key areas for policy intervention
- Develop relevant guidelines for effective, suitable, and sustainable anti-doping educational programmes and resources for coaches, trainers, and instructors involved in recreational sport.
Finally, it is with great pleasure that the consortium can share the first of its academic publications: Werner Pitsch’s Doping in Recreational Sport as a Risk Management Strategy in JRFM’s Special Issue Risk in Sports and Challenges for Sports Organisations!
