Players’ and coaches’ attitudes and knowledge of prohibited doping substances

Abstract

Winning is imperative in modern sports for all the participants, because nowadays sports is a lucrative job. It was not always like this and honor, prestige and personal achievements were the paramount goals. We witness that every point on the scoreboard is bringing the athlete and his team closer both to the victory and financial benefits [1]. Many experts from different fields are involved in creating a winning strategy, successful athletes and coaches, physiotherapists, nutritionists, psychologists [2-4]. While trying to achieve the maximum and win the game, some of them forget about the fair play and sports codex and reach out for solutions to gain edge over the other competitors, forgetting that chemical substances and procedures could put their health at risk and even threaten their lives [5, 6]. The use of performance enhancing substances is not newly discovered and it is well known throughout the history [7]. Five thousand years ago, in ancient China ephedra was used as a stimulant, as well as dried figs, certain types of mushrooms, and strychnine in Summary Introduction. Doping is an illicit use of illegal substances or substances that the body normally contains, in order to stimulate the competitive ability of athletes, which is in collision with sports ethics as well as the physical and mental integrity of athletes. In 2006, the World Anti-Doping Agency made a list of illicit substances and prohibited their use in different sports. The aim of this research was to evaluate athletes' and coaches' knowledge and attitudes about the use of doping substances. Material and Methods. This prospective study included 199 subjects, 164 (82.4%) athletes and 35 (17.6%) coaches. The group of athletes included 88 females and 114 males, with an average age of 24.1 ± 6.4 years, being engaged in sports 9.1±4.7 years on average. The athletes were engaged in the following sports: volleyball, basketball, handball, athletics, wrestling, soccer, and swimming. The coach group included 20 males and 15 females, with an average age of 31.8 ± 8.1 years with a coaching experience of 9.3 ± 3.1 years. Results. The differences in the average scores between athletes and coaches were statistically significant (p = 0.001; p < 0.05), in favor of coaches. The average scores between male and female athletes, and between individual and team coaches showed no significant differences (p = 0.267; p = 0.349; p > 0.05). Conclusion. The knowledge on prohibited doping substances was significantly higher in coaches than in athletes, while differences related to gender and collective or individual sports were not found.