CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Volume 14 • Number 3 • Fall 2001

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Sports Stars and Coaches Support Tobacco-Free Sports for Youth

Since CDC launched its sports initiative in 1996, many high-profile athletes and coaches have joined the tobacco-free sports movement. This is a dramatic turnabout from years past, when sports fans watched their idols use tobacco on the field, star in tobacco ads, or play in games sponsored by the tobacco industry. 

"Kids are most vulnerable because they want to emulate these sports stars. And the teen years are such an impressionable time, since we know that most adult tobacco users got hooked when they were teenagers," said Katy Curran, MS, ATC, CSCS, who heads the Tobacco-Free Sports and Physical Activity Initiative for CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "We now have an array of healthy role models from different sports arenas who support tobacco-free sports—role models like pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, Jen Davidson of the U.S. Women's Bobsled Team, and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter." 

For some of these athletes, the reasons for wanting to help kids resist tobacco are personal, she noted. Tracy Ducar, goalkeeper for the Boston Breakers soccer team, saw her grandfather die of emphysema after a lifetime of smoking. "I miss him greatly and know he would still be alive today if it weren't for tobacco," she said. "This is why I am a big advocate of the smoke-free cause. Every chance I have, I tell kids about the benefits of athletics and relate the story of my grandfather. Athletes, coaches, teachers, and anyone who cares about kids—we have a strong influence over these youth and can help spare them the pain of a life cut short by tobacco." 

Retired NFL quarterback Troy Aikman stopped using spit tobacco because so many of his young fans wrote to him, begging him to quit. After he kicked the habit, he joined the Texas Cancer Council to launch a successful campaign against spit tobacco. "I understand the pressures encouraging kids to begin using spit tobacco," he said. "I hope that my speaking out about the dangers of this habit might cause some kids to think twice before they start." Aikman is featured in a compelling poster targeting kids (available from CDC at www.smokefree.gov). 

Stars of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team have been big advocates for tobacco-free sports. They are partners in the SmokeFree Soccer program, launched in 1996 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, CDC, and the National Cancer Institute. Women soccer stars such as Julie Foudy act as role models for kids as they travel around the country speaking at schools, conventions, and to the media about the benefits of being physically active and not smoking. Hundreds of thousands of motivational posters featuring women soccer stars have been distributed nationwide through soccer clubs, public health departments, and community organizations. CDC is now working with soccer players and organizations around the world to promote tobacco-free soccer. CDC also funds organizations such as Oral Health America, which oversees the National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP).

Soccer stars such as Julie Foudy are healthy role models for kids around the world. Foudy is winner of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Fair Play Award. Through the FIFA Fair Play program, the association supports the SmokeFree Soccer program and helps players with physical and mental disabilities to develop their skills as enthusiastic players.

Spit Tobacco Has No Place In Sports 
For decades, spit tobacco has been associated with baseball, but NSTEP is working hard to change that. With retired Major League Baseball player and National Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster Joe Garagiola as its national chairman, the program has drawn widespread attention to the serious consequences of using smokeless tobacco. "We're working with the tobacco control and dental communities to teach youth, parents, teachers, coaches, and athletes that spit tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking, and it has no place in sports," said Paul Turner, director of NSTEP. Reaching kids is vitally important, he noted, because nearly one-fourth of all high school seniors have at least tried spit tobacco. 

NSTEP also works with the dental and tobacco control communities on year-round, sustainable education about smokeless tobacco. "We tell people it doesn't matter if you smoke, dip, chew, or snort it," Mr. Turner noted. "Tobacco's harmful." NSTEP also goes to spring training every year to offer oral health screenings, brush biopsies, and cessation counseling to the players. 

One of NSTEP's most compelling spokesmen was Bill Tuttle, a former Major League Baseball player who was diagnosed with oral cancer and underwent surgery that disfigured his face. "He and his wife, Gloria, educated a lot of kids and adults about the heath problems caused by spit tobacco," recalled Mr. Turner. "They often went to spring training and convinced a lot of ball players to stop. Bill died 3 years ago of cancer. It finally got him." 

Because of its success in baseball, Oral Health America is now expanding NSTEP to reach fans of other sports, including auto racing, rodeo, hockey, fishing, and hunting. NSTEP has developed a wide range of materials that public health departments can use in their tobacco-free sports campaigns. For information about NSTEP and its educational materials, visit www.nstep.org* or call Tina Grikmanis at 1/800/523-3438. 

The SmokeFree Soccer program recently went global when CDC teamed up with WHO and FIFA...

Movement Is Gaining Momentum 
CDC is one of many organizations that support the tobacco-free sports movement. Other supporters include the World Health Organization (WHO), National Cancer Institute, National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, National SAFE KIDS Campaign, International Olympic Committee, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), sports leagues, and many youth organizations. 

Because of this strong support, the tobacco-free sports movement is gaining momentum in many different sports arenas: 

• The SmokeFree Soccer program recently went global when CDC teamed up with WHO and FIFA to promote tobacco-free messages worldwide to girls as well as boys. Women and men soccer stars from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, and the United States have stepped forward to show their support for the program and appear in posters for kids. 
• The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has partnered with the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) to expand SmokeFree Soccer through smoke-free messages to WUSA fans and the involvement of athletes as spokespersons, role models, and activists. WUSA is the first professional athletic league to pledge not to advertise or sell tobacco products at its games. The league also is encouraging smoke-free environments in stadiums. 
• A smoke-free soccer initiative has been launched by the South African Football Association (SAFA) and WHO. SAFA is using soccer as a platform to promote a healthy lifestyle among its players and the public. The South African Ministry of Health now has a mission to make all sports in the country tobacco-free. The country will be host to the 2003 Cricket World Cup. 
• CDC and WHO are working toward a tobacco-free 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan. The kick-off for the 2002 FIFA World Cup will fall on World No-Tobacco Day, May 31, 2002, in Seoul. WHO has declared the theme for World No-Tobacco Day to be "Tobacco-Free Sports." 
• Some of the strongest smoke-free policies were in place during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where all venues and participants were smoke-free, and messages about tobacco-free and healthy lifestyles were promoted throughout the event. 
• The 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City will be tobacco-free and will promote healthy lifestyle messages targeting young people. 
• Extreme sports stars such as skateboarder Tony Hawk have spoken out against tobacco and drug use at the ESPN Winter X Games, which in 2001 alone attracted more than 83,000 spectators to Mount Snow, Vermont. 

For more information about CDC's activities in tobacco-free sports, go to www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sports_initiatives_splash.htm or call 1/770/488-5705 and press 3.

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