A question of sport

Children look up to sports stars. So what message do news stories about performance-enhancing drugs give to pupils, asks Judith Kneen

We should be shocked by drugs in sport but we're not. Outrage at the doping by Eastern bloc countries 20 years ago seems to have mellowed into a cynical acceptance that performance-enhancing drug-taking is endemic and a fact of life.

The roll call of those tainted by drugs includes so many of the great and good that we merely shrug in disappointment at each revelation. The only surprising development would be if the next person to provide a positive sample reacted by holding up his or her hands and saying: "It's a fair cop. The temptation was just too great." It seems we have a way to go in putting the sportsmanship back into sport.

The great and the good?
Last week, tennis player Greg Rusedski was cleared of taking a banned substance after the sport's ruling body decided he had unwittingly taken the steroid nandrolone in pills supplied by official trainers. But there was worrying news, too, that more than 40 male tennis players had tested positive for the same drug since September 2002, casting a shadow over the sport.

British sprinter Dwain Chambers was recently banned for two years after testing positive for the steroid THG, which he says he took inadvertently. And Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand is sitting out much of the football season after he earned an eight-month suspension for missing a drugs test.

As the media spotlight shines on these highly paid icons, what messages do young people take from their conduct, their morals and their fate? What do they learn about the pressures exerted by the sports industry as a whole - about how a big football club reacts to possible cheating, about the role of sports coaches and about how new drugs such as THG are being developed to beat the testers?

Sporting heroes
There's a distinction to be drawn, of course, between the excesses of recreational drug use, which is most likely to affect the footballer's world, and performance-enhancing drugs, which have affected sports such as athletics, swimming and cycling for many years. But whatever the case, sportsmen and women undoubtedly have a significant influence on young people.

Boys, in particular, often cite sports stars as their heroes. Ask students to choose one of their sporting heroes or heroines, and to list the qualities of that person. Pool the responses and try to identify the overriding features admired by the class. Is there anything surprising? Shocking? Reassuring?

Being a good sport
Encourage your students to consider the qualities of sportsmanship. Can they create a definition of "sport"? What are the connotations of the word and its derivations, eg sporting, good sport? Challenge them to come up with a list of 10 qualities essential to every sportsperson. Similarly, ask them to devise a list of undesirable qualities.

PE lessons can develop this into an exploration of what a good coach does. The role of the coach has come under scrutiny in the light of Chambers' assertions that his coach recommended the company from which he obtained the supplements he took. Tell them a good coach will be able to advise on general fitness and exercising safely, as well as giving support on improving specific skills. Students can be encouraged to coach each other, perhaps with the help of a video camera to break down techniques and skills. They can then produce two coaching leaflets: one on safe and healthy exercise, the other on improving a particular skill.

Under pressure
The temptations and risks associated with drug use are immense. As well as earning nearly £125,000 in prize money last year, Chambers probably earned three times that in sponsorship. His ban means he will lose his deal with Adidas, he will never be able to compete in the Olympics and the rest of the British relay team could face losing the silver medals they won in the world championships last year.

What are the pressures that make the risks worth taking? Give students a scenario: a fictitious athlete, who is having more and more success. Ask students to create a dossier of information to demonstrate the pressures on the athlete. It might include notes from his or her coach recommending supplements, letters from companies offering sponsorship, extracts from news reports criticising his/her performance. Your students can present their dossiers and discuss the pressures on the sportsperson involved.

A media campaign
Focus on the close relationship that has developed between sport, celebrity and business (exemplified, of course, by the Beckhams), and invite your students to utilise their knowledge by devising a range of sports products (such as clothing, trainers, holdalls, shampoos) to promote drug-free sport. They can create slogans, logos and designs, and develop their ideas into an advertising campaign, pinpointing the most effective markets and media to use. Once they have created their range, they can promote or present it to the rest of the class.

Curriculum links and guidance

This lesson is written for KS3 (age 11-14) but can be adapted for other ages.

Key stage 2 (age 7-11)
Children have an acute sense of fairness; they are extremely quick to point out any hint of unfairness by a parent or teacher! So ask them to discuss what cheating is, the different types of cheating they can think of and the consequences for those involved. Whom does cheating hurt most?

Moving on to sport, ask them to list its essential qualities: fun, competition, health, etc. Then ask them to consider why cheating and sport don't mix. If they have heard of drug problems in sport, you might discuss these and some of the background to them.

Challenge them to create an acrostic poem, with the letters of sport beginning each line, which sums up the essence of sport. Finally, try linking sport into history studies by creating a sporting timeline or looking at sport in the time of the Tudors or the ancient Greeks, for example. They could try finding out measures taken by earlier sportspeople to improve performance.

Key stage 4 (age 14-16)
By marrying scientific research with empathy and imagination, students can write the diary of a young person taking steroids. First, discuss the circumstances and reasons why a young person may take them and then they can carry out research (see weblinks below) to find out about the effects.

Encourage them to write a series of diary extracts that chart the progress of the experience over a period of time. Ensure that they include the feelings, reactions and physical changes undergone by the user. Encourage descriptive and reflective writing. They might enhance this original writing with an extract from an observer's viewpoint (eg the mother) or a doctor's report.

Speaking and listening work might focus on the dilemma experienced by top-level sportsmen and women who are faced with the possibility of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Ask students to role-play the conversation between a top sportsperson and his/her coach. One of them wants to use drugs, whilst the other argues against it.

Students can design a leaflet for sports students, warning them of the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs and advising how to steer clear of them.

Curriculum links


English (Speaking) 1a-f; (listening) 2a-e; (group discussion) 3a-f; (reading) 3a-f; (writing) 1a-e, 2a-f

PSHE/Citizenship 1a-c, 2a-b. 3a, 3d, 3f; QCA scheme of work (Citizenship) 2

Science Sc2g, h


Citizenship 1a, 1h, 2a-c, 3a-c

English (Speaking and listening) 1a-g, 2a-f, 3a-e, 4a; (reading) 1a-e, 4a-d, 5a-d (writing) 1a-k

PSHE 2a-d, 2f, 2g, 3a, 3d, 3i-k

Science Sc2 2m; QCA scheme of work 9B

PE QCA schemes of work 22, 23


Citizenship 1a, 2a-c, 3a-c

English (Speaking and listening) 1a-g, 2a-f, 4a-d; (reading) 1a-e, 4a-d, 5a-d; (writing) 1a-d, 1i-k

PSHE 1a-d, 2a-e, 3e-f

Science Sc2 2m

PE 4c, 4d

Scottish Curriculum 5-14

English Levels D-F

Health education Levels C-F


www.guardian.co.uk/sport News and comment on drug-taking in sport

www.uksport.gov.uk/did UK sport drug information database

www.drugsinsport.net Drugs in sport: background information and resources

www.wada-ama.org News from the World Anti-Doping Agency

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