By virtue of being performance based and results oriented by nature, sports people are constantly working to bring out the best possible outcomes from their bodies through a series of rigorous training regimes.Some, still not satisfied, may opt for nutritional supplementation in a bid to boost their preparations and performance while others, probably burdened by the weight of expectation or the need for instant success or gratification may elect to engage in doping, using illegal performance enhancers in the quest for glory and subsequent success.
Unfortunately, doping by a few may cause any excellent performance to be viewed as suspicious, devaluing a region, team or country’s reputation in a given sporting discipline.
Indeed, we are living in a moment in time where the prevalence of doping cases is increasing, and is occurring closer to home at a rate more than we ever envisaged.
It is easy to conduct over the counter purchases for supplements and other substances that may knowingly or unknowingly land a sportsperson in trouble.
With this in mind, the Kenyan sporting fraternity is left facing a situation where it must work on measures to deal with growing incidences of doping which have abruptly ended the careers of many a promising sportsperson while placing the country under tighter scrutiny from various global sports bodies as well as the Word Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The Kenya Rugby Union was among a number of sports federations that were participants at a recent seminar hosted in Nairobi by the Anti-Doping Association of Kenya (ADAK).
This seminar , held under the “Stay Clean, Win Right” tagline, was aimed at sensitizing sports federations on the core functions of ADAK, the Anti-Doping Act, the indiscretions classified as Anti-Doping violations and more importantly the need for compliance to the Act by local sports federations.
KRU is working on modalities, that it will soon be rolling out, to sensitize its affiliates about the scourge of doping. It will in particular set out to educate and inform its affiliates and players on the list of substances banned by WADA, penalties arising, as well as constant deliberate efforts to continue keeping rugby clean through adherence of the various local and international Anti- Doping regulations.
