Anti-doping is no longer simply a matter of testing and sanctions. Prevention, education, and the ability of athletes, coaches, and support teams to understand the rules and prevent risks are becoming increasingly important. This principle underpins the cooperation between the Czech Anti-Doping Committee (CADC), the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport of Charles University, and the Association of Professional Ice Hockey Clubs (APK LH).

The aim of the cooperation is to connect professional expertise, the academic environment, and the everyday reality of professional sport. Through seminars, anti-doping issues are brought directly into the environment of professional ice hockey clubs, while also creating opportunities for student education and professional experience.

“Modern anti-doping cannot rely solely on testing and sanctions. Education and prevention must be an essential part of it. Cooperation between the Czech Anti-Doping Committee, the Faculty, and professional sport enables us to share our experience not only with current athletes and support teams, but also with the next generation of sports managers, coaches, and other professionals. It is this long-term impact that I see as the greatest value of our cooperation,” says Martin Čížek, Director of the Czech Anti-Doping Committee.

An important aspect of the cooperation is the involvement of Faculty students. One of them is Simona Hamouzová, a student in the follow-up Master’s programme Management of Physical Education and Sport, who is gaining professional experience through anti-doping seminars.

Students therefore gain more than theoretical knowledge. They have the opportunity to see how professional sport works from the inside, engage with current issues, and gain experience that they can draw on in their future careers.

For the Faculty, the cooperation has a broader significance. It demonstrates how teaching, student placements, professional institutions, and professional sports organisations can be systematically connected. Experience from the real-world sporting environment can feed back into education, while academic expertise can, in turn, contribute to sports practice.

This two-way exchange of experience is one of the ways in which we can prepare future sports professionals while also helping to shape the environment in which they will work.

Clean sport does not start with an anti-doping test. It starts with knowledge of the rules, prevention, education, and responsibility.