Football season is upon us--a season synonymous with tailgating and enjoying time with friends while cheering on your team. Make the most of your pre-game experiences with these safety tips for tailgating, including always having a designated driver for after the game. Pace and space any alcohol consumption on game day by alternating alcoholic beverages with non-alcoholic beverages--the big win is so much sweeter when you remember the game.
Substance Abuse Prevention and Athletics
Student-athletes are a unique and diverse population. The combination of huge time commitments, physically exhausting workouts, a higher profile within the community, and demanding expectations from coaches, teachers, professors, and peers can cause both academic and athletic strain. High schools, colleges, and universities have an obligation to provide a supportive environment along with substance abuse prevention specifically for student-athletes. Interventions and education which tap into student-athlete culture have the ability to reverse the social pull toward heavy alcohol consumption, so athletics departments are important partners for prevention efforts. The NCAA Sport Science Institute has tremendous resources available to help engage and educate student-athletes and administrators on substance abuse issues. The Gordie Center has a long-standing partnership with the NCAA to create best practices for this population, specifically through our annual APPLE Training Institutes. APPLE is the leading national training institute dedicated to substance abuse prevention and health promotion for student-athletes and athletics department administrators. APPLE is held every January and is open to NCAA-member institutions.
Gordie Center Ideas and Updates
NEW Student-Athlete BAC Cards!
Did you know that drinking after athletic activity decreases vitamin and mineral absorption needed for muscle repair? Many collegiate student-athletes are unaware of the ways alcohol use can impact performance. To reach this population, the Gordie Center created a Student-Athlete BAC card, available in the GORDIEstore, with athlete-specific information including healthy social norms and how alcohol use before or after activity can have unintended consequences. The student-athlete data was provided by NCAA Sport Science Institute staff.
National Hazing Prevention Week
National Hazing Prevention Week is fast approaching: September 19 - 23, 2016.  The Gordie Center can help you with your NHPW programming, to include National GORDIEday on Thursday, September 22nd. Check out our GORDIEday Guide, order products (like our documentary film  HAZE) from the GORDIEstore to complement your efforts, and let us know about your events.  We love to learn how schools and organizations participate in GORDIEday and use our products, so send us your pictures and recaps!
Be on the lookout for our 2016 Gordie Center annual newsletter, delivered to your inbox in the coming weeks!

Until next month,

Susie Bruce,  Director, Gordie Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
Jill Maurer, National Development & Program Coordinator 
 
Gordie Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
 gordiecenter@virginia.edu | www.gordie.org
 


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