Players’ and coaches’ attitudes and knowledge of prohibited doping substances

. Doping is an illicit use of illegal substances or substances that the body normally contains, in order to stimulate the competitive ability of athletes, which is in collision with sports ethics as well as the physical and mental integrity of athletes. In 2006, the World Anti-Doping Agency made a list of illicit substances and prohibited their use in different sports. The aim of this research was to evaluate athletes? and coaches? knowledge and attitudes about the use of doping substances. Material and Methods. This prospective study included 199 subjects, 164 (82.4%) athletes and 35 (17.6%) coaches. The group of athletes included 88 females and 114 males, with an average age of 24.1 ? 6.4 years, being engaged in sports 9.1?4.7 years on average. The athletes were engaged in the following sports: volleyball, basketball, handball, athletics, wrestling, soccer, and swimming. The coach group included 20 males and 15 females, with an average age of 31.8 ? 8.1 years with a coaching experience of 9.3 ? 3.1 years. Results. The differences in the average scores between athletes and coaches were statistically significant (p = 0.001; p < 0.05), in favor of coaches. The average scores between male and female athletes, and between individual and team coaches showed no significant differences (p = 0.267; p = 0.349; p > 0.05). Conclusion. The knowledge on prohibited doping substances was significantly higher in coaches than in athletes, while differences related to gender and collective or individual sports were not found.