Games masters and sports officers in schools in the country should inculcate reliance on natural talents and skills in younger athletes to check the growing threat of doping in Nigerian sport circle.
The charge was made on Saturday by a Professor of Sport Psychology at the University of Ibadan, Olufemi Adegbesan.
Adegbesan who lamented the growing problem of doping among Nigerian athletes, said 60 per cent of athletes, in a study he conducted, use stimulants and with over 50 per cent male athletes dominance.
Adegbesan is the principal investigator on a TETFUND funded project under the National Research Fund, entitled, “Integrative of Socio-cognitive and Biomedical Mechanisms for prevention of Doping in Sports: A mixed research narratives.”
He made the disclosure while presenting a paper at a two-day webinar organised in collaboration with the National Anti-Doping Committee to create awareness against doping culture with over 300 Games Masters and Sports Officers participating.
According to him, doping was taking a dangerous dimension where Under-15 in National Youth games tested positive to using illicit substance.
He added that games masters had critical roles to play to stop the menace early at the grassroots level.
He said: “Competition starts at the grassroots and we need to create awareness from there. Doping is a serious threat to the health of the athlete and brings shame to the nation through sanctions. It prevents the natural growth of sports and nurturing of natural talents. We believe we can shape the right behaviour in young athletes in schools and this is where Games masters and sport officers as locus parentis are vital in developing a positive attitude towards anti-doping in the younger athletes so they will not grow to see it as normal way to reach stardom.”
A consultant anti-doping expert, Mr. Femi Ayorinde, said it was important to track and create positive awareness culture in younger athletes from the grassroots before they formed an opinion.
He lamented that six athletes under 14 years of age tested positive to performance enhancement substance use at the 2019 National Youth Games held in Kwara state.
He said, “Children under 14 years of age have started using performance enhancing drugs in Nigeria and that is telling us that there is problem. This is a sign that they are being tutored by their coaches and other sport personnel. We really need to deal with that angle. The national anti-doping committee is carrying out education and information dissemination even during the lockdown period to educate athletes through webinars. Nigeria is trying in anti-doping but we are not doing enough.”
