Talking to Student Athletes About Alcohol

The Speak Up! program was created through the efforts of Dr. David Anderson, George Mason University, Tim Clark, Lori Hendricks and Mary Wilfert of the NCAA, student-athlete participants at the NCAA 2001 Leadership Conference, NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Coordinators and The Century Council. The Century Council is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to fighting underage drinking and drunk driving and funded by America's leading distillers.

Speak Up!  Facilitator's Guide

The program is designed in a discussion group format with a facilitator guiding students through an educational video. The discussion groups are focused on the importance of making responsible decisions about alcohol and the different scenarios student-athletes face on campus.

The program utilizes several media approaches including video clips from The Century Council's Alcohol 101 program, video clips of The Century Council's Blood Alcohol Educator program and the March Madness PSA.

The program is broken down into four segments, the first segment revolves around "sex," the second segment revolves around "dangerous drinking," the third segment revolves around "self-determination," and the fourth segment revolves around "athletic performance." The Speak Up! facilitator's guide provides the session leader with suggested discussion questions and "common responses.

In February 2002, the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Program received an award from the Inter-Association Task Force on Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse Issues (a coalition of 21 higher education associations) for its contributions to national Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, and particularly for its dissemination of the Speak Up! program. The Speak Up! program was embraced as a tool to support personal well being of collegiate student-athletes.