Teamwork in Clean Sport

UK Anti-Doping’s (UKAD) national awareness week, Clean Sport Week will run this year from 22 - 26 May and ‘Teamwork in Clean Sport’ is the theme. 

Around every athlete, there is a team to help them succeed and to perform at their very best. All athletes have the responsibility of strict liability, they themselves alone are responsible for everything that goes into their bodies. However, the team around them - the Athlete Support Personnel: coaches, doctors, physiotherapists, parents, national governing body as well as sports councils also have a collective responsibility to create a positive culture that give athletes the confidence to play and win fairly.  

To kick off Clean Sport Week on 22 May, UKAD will be announcing the results of their annual public perception survey on doping in sport. We will also be hosting an in-person event, Clean Sport Week webinar, which will be broadcast live from Loughborough University. The expert panel will be exploring clean sport topics, providing tips and advice on being a team player and working & supporting athletes. It will be hosted by Olympic canoeist and BBC commentator, Helen Reeves. The panel include Diccon Edwards, Performance Director for GB Wheelchair Basketball, Jo Calvino, former British weightlifting champion, and a member of UKAD’s Athlete Commission, and Charlotte Beaman-Evans, Senior Lecturer in Physical Education at the University of Worcester. 

Other highlights during the week will be shared across UKAD’s social media channels which include an athlete digital focus day (23 May). Athletes will be discussing their clean sport responsibilities and sharing their experience of anti-doping, and the important checks they take to make sure they’re competing clean.   

On the following day, (24 May) coach Scott Murray and Stuart Barrow, Rugby Football League’s England Women’s Head Coach will also talk about their work with athletes, sharing advice on how they create positive environments that enable athletes to play fair according to the clean sport ethos.  
Dr David Pugh, Chief Medical Officer at British Curling will discuss how he, as an Athlete Support Personnel member (doctors, physios, nutritionists, and parents/guardians) supports athletes to play clean on 25 May.  

Additionally, Professor Nicola Philips OBE, Chair of UKAD’s Athlete Commission and registered sports physiotherapist, will be discussing her work with athletes and how to support them in the anti-doping process. This discussion will be hosted on Instagram, and she will be taking questions from the audience afterwards. 

We all have a role to play in keeping sport fair and clean.

We encourage all athletes, coaches, and athlete support personnel to show your team player credentials. 

Join us on 22 – 26 May and be part of the team this Clean Sport Week.