The anti-doping in sport message targeting teenagers was hammered home in Whanganui secondary schools this week.
Aidan Kaho from Drugfree Sport NZ peddled the message that performance-enhancing drugs, and more specifically supplements, were inherently too dangerous to experiment with.
Co-ordinating with Sport Whanganui, he hosted workshops at City College, Girls College and Whanganui High School on Tuesday and Wanganui Collegiate, which was also attended by Cullinane College students, then WHS again, followed by Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Tupoho as part of Drugfree Sport NZ's "Good Clean Sport" programme.
The visits came at a time when the possibility of drug use at major school sports events has been thrown into the spotlight after Drugfree Sport confirmed it will be testing random players involved in the Top Four 1st XV playoffs in Palmerston North next month.
The organisation said the decision was prompted by mounting concerns over college players either doping or taking banned supplements in the face of pressure to perform.