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One big challenge that faces athletes today is the temptation to use illicit drugs. This is called doping. Doping is the term used in sports to refer to the use of prohibited performance-enhancing drugs or substances by sports persons to unfairly gain undue advantage over fellow athletes in competitions. Doping has come to become a virus trying to destroy the spirit, integrity, image and value of athletics, as well as athletes’ health. Consequently, doping is prohibited by all sports authorities. The sanction for doping is ban. It is not enough to identify and nurture talented athletes into professionals. They must be given vital information on the dangers of doping. Information is power. Information guides choice. Information counters ignorance. Information equips the mind.

In professional or elite athletics, there are pressures. This is applicable in other fields of human endeavour. From my experiences, observations, interactions and inferences, I have come to identify these pressures as the root causes of doping in sports especially among African sports men and women. I will attempt to look at how athletes can handle each pressure to avoid fallen into the dangerous and heavy hands of doping and the natural consequence of being banned. The pressures are:

1. ETHICS-DRIVEN PRESSURE – Ethics consists of the standards of behavior acceptable in a society or profession. Here members of the society or profession are expected to conform to certain standards. Being ethical is doing what the law requires. Any deviations come with sanctions.

As athletes you should know that you belong to a profession. Every profession has principles that guide its practice. It is designed to protect the integrity of the profession. Laws against doping and other acts of cheating are designed to ensure equal opportunity for all athletes in competitions.

How do you handle ethics-driven pressure?

a. If you must be an athlete, make effort to know what the ethics are. If you do, you will play by the rule which is good for your career.

b. Internalize the ethics and apply discipline.

b. As athletes, put it at the back of your mind that “Winning is something but it is not everything!” There is dignity in fair participation.

c. Sports administrators and coaches should make deliberate effort to mould the minds of young athletes from even primary schools. They should be taught very early in their career, the lifelong benefits of playing by the rule and consequence of cheating.

Expected Result – An ethics-compliant mind will easily resist doping.

2. EGO-DRIVEN PRESSURE – Ego is an inflated feeling of pride in the perceived or real superiority of one person to others. Here the athlete wants to always dominate. No dull moment. No off day!

Gifted people are naturally egotistic. Athletes are gifted people. It is no surprise if they are egotistic. However, being egotistic is an attitudinal problem that drives people to live on the edge. Ego can make you to refuse to accept your limitations and drive you to adopt unfair practices to excel.

How do you handle ego-driven pressure?

a. Coaches are very important here. It is their duty to tame the ego of young athletes while at the same motivating them to become the best. It is a tough job but it has to be done.

b. As athletes, you should know and recognize that there temporary phenomena called “off days” and “burnt-out” and permanent phenomenon called “aging” and “performance decline”. These things happen because you are human. Do not be ashamed to experience any of them.

Expected Result – Accepting temporary setbacks as motivation to do better next time rather than a disgrace will make doping unnecessary.

3. IGNORANCE-DRIVEN PRESSURE – Ignorance is lack of vital knowledge or education. Here the athlete lacks requisite information or does not know how to get information. She knows there are limitations but she is helpless. Consequently, people around her make certain decisions on her behalf with possibility of exploitation and abuse.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. If people are let off the hook on the account of ignorance, every law breaker will plead ignorance. That’s not good for the society. If you test positive to banned performance-enhancing substances as an athlete, get ready to be ‘hammered’. No mercy! It does not matter if you unknowingly or mistakenly took food supplements that contain traces of the banned substances. You can shout, cry and plead. The bottom-line is that you still get banned. It is the law. If you must have on tracks or field you must conform to the ethics.

How do you handle ignorance-driven pressure?

a. There is lack of information about doping at both amateur and professional level. Federation should take it upon itself to do proper education.

b. As athletes or budding athletes it is your responsibility to get familiar with the list of banned substances. It is not enough to run round the field everyday. Find time to read and browse internets visiting sites of bodies like IAAF, World Anti-Doping Agency, etc.

c. Be careful of the food supplements you take. It may contain illicit substances.

Expected Result – An athlete that has complete information on the consequences of doping will find it easy to resist doping.

4. STAKEHOLDERS-DRIVEN PRESSURE – A stakeholder is an individual or group with an interest in the success of an athlete in delivering intended results and winning medals. Typical stakeholders of an athlete include relations, coaches, fellow athletes, The Federation, individual officials of the Federation, sponsors and Government. Here the athlete is “held hostage” and exploited for diverse reasons. It is important to note that a stakeholder whose interests are not being covered at any point could sabotage the athlete.

Athletes should learn to take their destiny into their hand because it is their career and their life that are involved. Coaches, relations, Federation, etc can only guide you but vital decisions and actions will be made by you. And get ready to take responsibilities for those decisions and actions.

How do you handle stakeholders-driven pressure?

a. Be a true professional. Do not get involved in Federation politics. You could be set up. Chanel your grievances officially without unnecessary militancy.

b. When you quarrel with your coach or an official, be vigilant because they might get back at you roping you into doping scandal.

c. Do not allow anybody to push you to the edge where doping could become an option. If you do, you will get banned, the newspapers will scream “Fall from grace to grass” and relations and friends will avoid you. And then you might sink more into drugs.

d. Banned athletes should not be abandoned because at that point in time they need help to bounce back.

Expected Result – If athletes know that when hammer for doping comes down, it will fall heavily on the athletes only, they will shun doping.

5. ECONOMIC-DRIVEN PRESSURE – An economy is the ways in which people use their environment to meet their material needs. Here the athlete is determined to earn as much as possible before her career is over.

Athletes need money to meet their needs and in most cases have family members who are dependent on them. It is a fact that economic pressure drive people to commit crimes. Discipline and self-content are required in life to stay above board.

How do you handle economic-driven pressure?

a. Athletes should know from the beginning that there is life after athletics. Education and skills acquisition are important.

b. Be smart enough to secure employment while you do your athletics. It helped me. I am sure it will also help you.

c. Invest whatever money you make wisely

d. State Governments and Corporate bodies should support and reward our athletes financially and with employment opportunities.

Expected Result – Economically enlightened athletes will always plan ahead, avoiding the temptation of doping.

6. COMPETITION-DRIVEN PRESSURE – Athletic competitions like examinations come with pressure. The most hit are usually the unprepared, the badly prepared and of course the mediocre. For those who prepared or trained competitions are necessary steps for career progression.

Athletics like any endeavour in life has minimum entry requirements. Even at that, not every body that enters excels. Many are called but few are chosen. Every budding athlete must make sure she has the physique, the strength and the speed. If you do not have the right combination of these, you will struggle. Not every athlete ends up on international scene. Some are created to compete at school level or at state level only. Do not force yourself.

How do you handle Competition-driven pressure?

a. Make you sure you have what it takes to succeed so that you would not have to cut corners.

b. More athletic competitions should be created to develop and prepare our athletes for international competitions.

c. No need taking athletes who did not make required time or marks to competitions. It puts unnecessary pressure on them.

d. Good welfare packages and training programmes should be developed to avoid athletes burning-out before major competitions.

Expected Result – When athlete is well prepared or recognizes her limitations in a competition, she will be less tempted to engage in doping.

Doping has ruined the career of many promising athletes. It can ruin yours if you do not apply wisdom and restraint. Compete fair and clean.

Chioma Ajunwa*

*Chioma Ajunwa is currently a Police Officer in Nigeria. She won gold medal at 1996 Atlanta Olympics and silver at 1997 Paris World Indoor Athletics in long jump. She has set up Chioma Ajunwa Foundation to mentor young athletes on how to compete fair and clean. She is married.

Wilson Sporting Goods has long been known for supplying people with quality sports equipment. Since 1914, Wilson has been selling basketballs, baseballs, and footballs to the general public as well as organized sports.

Wilson also recognized that golf was a very popular activity in the world and they wanted to present their unique products to the world that they felt would change the face of golf forever. Wilson Golf knew they needed the backing of a professional golfer of the time to add credibility to their products, so they contacted one of the best.

Gene Sarazen was the first golfer to become a member of the Wilson Advisory Staff and would have a 75-year relationship with the company, the longest-running contract in sports history. His career would earn him 39 PGA titles including two U.S. Opens, three PGA Championships, a British Open title, and a Masters victory on his way into the PGA Hall of Fame in 1974. Read the rest of this entry »

Choosing the right driver and fairway wood can be difficult if you don’t know how big the club head size is supposed to be. Here are a few tips. When you are choosing a wood there are three different club head sizes to choose from.

The standard club head size measures approximately 150-155 cubic centimeters. This size has a smaller sweet spot but will give you better control. The mid size size measures around 195 cubic centimeters and offers a few benefits. This will give you a medium sized sweet spot and the club is also much lighter than the oversized club head.

The oversized club head is the biggest you can choose from. The club head can be found at sizes up to 300+ cubic centimeters. This adds for a very large sweet spot with any of the head sizes. This is much more difficult for you to control and is heavier than the other two variations. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes even the professionals will be helped with the way they swing the golf club. The difference between amateurs and professionals is that professionals will have their time to learn what’s wrong with their swing, and how it affects their game. Have to spend
a nice couple of days to learn to swing the golf club properly, so the game becomes improvement and you will be able to score more in low blows.

It might seem that it is a great process that must be performed. But it is not. It ‘important to analyze the swing and lower your handicap. If you are together you should be able to score good points at strokes consistent play, you have to learn.

No Quick Fix is sure to find a shortcut to solve your swing in order to learn the tactics easily. But there are no shortcuts to do this, the only way he can do is the standard practice and incredible patience. You need a certain amount of determination and talent combined with this
to succeed in what you want. Read the rest of this entry »

Golf is a game that is to hit and control the ball where you want it to go to your direction. As with any game, you must be in control of the ball for a good overall mark. Your mind, body and how they relate to the nature of all surrounding will have an important role in the overall score that is displayed when playing golf. Golf is a game that beginners can learn quickly, the more you practice, the more chance you can get.

Professionals maintain their professional positions, because they play so often. Even the professional who comes out on the course just for several days, he also discovered that his game got suffering. The mechanics of playing golf is not difficult, you hit the ball on the green, rolling the ball into the hole, and continue to focus while trying to hit the ball any less time on the course. The person with the least variation throughout the course who will win this round.

Some people just starting out, find they lose balls on a course. If you lose the ball, it’s still considered a swing. If you had to hit the ball and then struck again then it will be two, you can keep yourself rating, or the caddy can keep score for you, or if you play on one team, one of your team members may mark the points for you.

The golf course will be organized differently on all the courses are held. Many hills, hills, sand traps, the area of water, and also the areas where trees are located in the “path” when you are on golf courses. All this is part of the game, the scenery and great fun on the golf course. If you were to play on a field that is flat without any obstacles, you will find that golf is not much fun after all.