New ‘Play True Pasifik’ curriculum developed by regional anti-doping organization

October 31, 2019

Athletes in the Oceania region will soon benefit from a curriculum that’s currently been developed by the Oceania RegionalAnti-Doping Organisation (ORADO) in a 3-day workshop in Suva.

Athletes in the Oceania region will soon benefit from a curriculum that’s currently been developed by the Oceania RegionalAnti-Doping Organisation (ORADO) in a 3-day workshop in Suva.

The curriculum is being developed to assist local anti-doping educators in education and awareness programs for athletes across the pacific.

ORADO Executive Officer Natanya Potoi-Ulia said that it is important for athletes and their support teams to understand and comprehend their rights and responsibilities when it comes to anti-doping.

“This is in relation to the doping control process, the application for therapeutic use exemption, consumption of medication and supplements that are on the prohibited list and also being roles models in advocating for clean sports,” Potoi-Ulia explained.

The 3-day workshop has brought together anti-doping educators and curriculum experts from around the region with the aim of drafting an anti-doping curriculum targeting athletes form ‘beginner’ to ‘elite-level’ of sports performance.

“At the moment we don’t have a specific curriculum forOceania so this now gives us a document we can use as a guide to run our sessions in a more systematic and consistent way,” Games Coordinator for the Papua New Guinea National Olympic Committee, Asiani Vagi said.

“This is important because a lot of athletes are not educated on the anti-doping rule violations and they don’t realize that supplements and medications they take is their responsibility,” Vagi said.

Papua New Guinea’s National Sports Institute Director Janet Gimots has found the workshop to be a refresher as well.

“This has been a learning and refreshing experience, having been away from anti-doping education for quite a while now.

“There’s a lot of new knowledge that I have acquired given that the methods and models of learning have evolved,” Gimots explained.

“For me, this curriculum is so relevant because we have categorized the different levels of progress for athletes so I can use this on a daily basis in the office and also in schools,” she added.

 

 

 Fiji uses its “Play True” themes to drive anti-doping awareness says FASANOC VOA (Voices of the Athletes) Projector Officer, Matelita Vuakoso.

“As a VOA educator – the curriculum will be very helpful in creating a session plan to deliver to different target groups.

“And personally, for me the workshop has been a refresher on the updated “Play True” components of the program and also the alignment to the new WADA education standard that will be implemented in 2021,” Vuakoso said.

Potoi-Ulia says the workshop is also about identifying best practice for our ORADO “Play True Pasifik” educators.

“The framework for the new “Play True Pasifik Curriculum”is based on the athlete pathway model that reflects a typical path that an athlete may take on their route from ‘beginner’ to ‘elite’ in any given sport,”Potoi-Ulia said.

She said the framework encompasses a suite of topics that are categorized for athletes according to their stages of development.

“The final product will also help trainers design and plan their sessions to ensure our learning outcomes and messages and consistent and standardized.

“Our working draft will be reviewed by the education teams of Drug Free Sport New Zealand and the Australian Sports Anti-DopingAuthority (ASADA),” Potoi-Ulia concluded.

The workshop is supported and funded by the AustraliaGovernment’s Sports Integrity Unit with the help of the United KingdomAnti-Doping Organisation through the release of their “Clean Sports Curriculum”which the group have used as their key reference tool.

The workshop ends tomorrow with plans to also test the curriculum in a selected pilot countries before the final version is printed for distribution.  

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About ONOC 
Established in 1981, the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) is one of five Continental Associations. It looks after the interests of 17 member nations in the Oceania Region, including Australia and New Zealand as well as seven associate members. 

ONOC has an office in Guam where Secretary General Mr. Ricardo Blas is based and the Secretariat in Suva, Fiji, where the Office of the President Dr Robin Mitchell is located.

All services and-programmes are based on the ONOC Strategic Plan for 2018-2021, and its 4 Core Functions of (1) Building and Strengthening NOCs Capacity (2) Cultivating Strategic Partnerships (3) Contributing towards Sporting Excellence and (4) Leading by Example.

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For more information, please contact;

Shivneel Narayan
Chief Communications Officer (Acting)
shivneel@oceanianoc.org

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