What is doping and anti-doping?

Doping is the use of substances or methods banned in sport. Doping is cheating because it gives one athlete an advantage over others. Doping is also extremely dangerous to your health and can destroy your reputation.

Anti-doping is a set of rules designed to protect athletes’ rights to participate in sport free of performance enhancing drugs. It is anti-doping that keeps sport fair and keeps the playing field level. When athletes choose not to dope, we say they compete clean.

ANTI-DOPING And softball

Softball takes a position of zero tolerance toward doping in sport and works closely with Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) in Australia and the WBSC internationally to ensure a drug-free environment in our sport.

Anti-doping rules apply to all participants of our sport from elite to grassroots. All members must be aware of, and have a basic understanding of, their obligations regarding anti-doping. The SIA website has a range of information and resources to assist, including:

Softball Australia's anti-doping policy is the Australian National Anti-Doping Policy, effective 1 January 2021, and can be found on the Sport Integrity Australia website. The Australian National Anti-Doping Policy reflects the set of anti-doping rules across all sports in Australia.

To report a breach of anti-doping rules, submit directly to Sport Integrity Australia here.

EDUCATION, RESOURCES AND AWARENESS

When it comes to sport integrity, it is critical that our athletes and support personnel are aware of their rights and responsibilities. There are a range of tools and resources available to help keep participants informed.

INTEGRITY ELEARNING

Sport Integrity Australia eLearning offers online courses relating to sport integrity, including doping, match fixing, illicit drugs, and ethical decision-making courses. Specific anti-doping courses are also available for coaches, support persons, medical practitioners, and parents.

Athletes required to complete education can submit their ‘eLearning certificate’ to integrity@softball.org.au

SPORT INTEGRITY APP

The Sport Integrity app is a one-stop shop for all sport integrity needs, designed with athletes in mind.

The app allows users to check whether their medications are banned in sport, find low risk supplements to reduce their chance of testing positive accidentally, and check whether they need a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). The app also provides direction on how to raise concerns about things like doping, match-fixing, harassment, or illicit drug use. It features further information on eLearning modules, whereabouts and testing information and gives users the opportunity to provide feedback to Sport Integrity Australia.

The app is free and can be downloaded from the Apple and Android app stores.

PROHIBITED LIST OF SUBSTANCES AND METHODS

The Prohibited List outlines the substances and methods that are prohibited in sport. The World Anti-Doping Agency updates it annually. Remember that individual products or brands are not named on the Prohibited List. Athletes should check the status of all medications before they use them on Global DRO.

CHECKING YOUR SUBSTANCES

Global DRO allows users to check whether the most commonly prescribed and over-the-counter medicines in Australia are permitted or prohibited in sport.

If an athlete requires use of a prohibited substance to treat a medical condition, the athlete needs to be aware of the TUE requirements. For more information on a TUE visit the Sport Integrity Australia website.