PESHAWAR
Deputy Director General (Technical) Shahid Islam Monday said that use of drugs by athletes to enhance their overall performance through drugs are harmful for general health and for this purpose World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) playing a key role in restricting the athletes.
WADA’s primary role is to develop, harmonize and coordinate anti-doping rules and policies across all sports and countries, Shahid Islam said in his lecture as course conductor in the five-day PSB Coaching and Training Course which concluded here. A total of 85 male and female athletes including coaches, trainers and instructors attended the course wherein Rana Nasrullah, Dr. Nabeel and international football coach Asad Ullah supervised the course with their valuable lectures.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), he said, was established on Nov 10, 1999. Its mission is to promote and coordinate the fight against doping in sport internationally. Thanks to this independent agency, the Olympic Movement and public authorities worldwide are able to intensify their efforts to banish drugs from sport, he added.
Shahid Islam said that on the special instruction of the Director General PSB, the have started their season coaching and training courses from Peshawar, followed by organizing in other cities as well in order to train and coach upcoming coaches, trainers and instructors so that to improve the overall standard of sports in Pakistan.
PSB Refreshes Course also included a vital topic on Anti-Doping Awareness conducted by Shahid Islam. Anti-Doping Awareness also underlined the need of enhancing speed and endorsement through biomechanics of the human body. Shahid Islam said that soon after joining as DG Shoaib Khoso, who directed all the centers across Pakistan for hosting different courses related to Athletes and Games in order to ensure provision of first hand and much updated information to youngsters who are part of various Games.
Shahid Islam said, tackling doping issues with an iron hand to save country’s reputation awareness is a key for the athletes. Sports at the elite level are about maximizing performance and gaining every advantage possible within reason.
To dope and use banned, performance-enhancing drugs is to knowingly gain an outlawed advantage over competitors, Shahid Islam said. He said lack of awareness to the athletes also led to such use of banned drugs.
He said drugs and anti-doping in Sport should be thoroughly checked with the aim to protect the overall image of the athlete and the country. About the definitions of doping, Shahid Islam said that doping is defined as the presence of prohibited substances or methods to unfairly improve sporting performance and to gain an advantage over competitors.
Shahid said that why do athletes take performance enhancing drugs is to recover from injury more quickly, to mask pain, influenced by others, the will to win overrides the moral conscience, a desire to be the best at all costs, especially when achieving financial rewards, better results lead to better sponsors and endorsement contracts, desire to meet expectations of others, making the most of a short sporting life, willingness to cheat for public acclaim and feeling that their natural ability is not good enough.
He said, doping is now a global problem that follows international sporting events worldwide. International sports federations, led by the International Olympic Committee, have for the past half century attempted to stop the spread of this problem, with little effect.
Nasrullah Rana in his two-hour long lecture on the need of developing speed, stamina and role of good coaches and knowledgeable coaches. He said the recognition, trust, respect or awareness of the coaches among athletes is only based on knowledge.
He said, sports coaches assist athletes in developing to their full potential. They are responsible for training athletes in a sport by analyzing their performances, instructing in relevant skills and by providing encouragement. He said coaches are also responsible for the guidance of the athlete in life and their chosen sport.
Playing various sports helps them teach life skills such as teamwork, leadership, accountability, patience, and self-confidence and prepares them to face life challenges. Students get a chance to work on their physical and mental abilities to achieve goals in their life.
“Sport teaches us development. It helps us learn things such as resilience, leadership, accountability, respect and patience. Lessons that sports teach us can help us develop as players and all round good people too,” Nasrullah Rana said. Working as a sports coach can be a rewarding and challenging career with the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. At the end of the course, certificates distribution ceremony was held with Rs. 1500 also given as stipend to the participants on behalf of PSB.
