July 20, 2009 - WADA has partnered with Chooseco, the publisher of the hugely popular Choose Your Own Adventure series of interactive children’s books, to publish two titles focused on good decision-making and sport values. These books are available in English and French. 

The objective of the books is to present the reader with difficult, realistic decisions in competitive sport, including choices about doping and cheating. The multiple choices in each title lead to multiple endings.

In Track Star!, You are the main character, a talented young runner who believes that your only shot at a university education is through an athletic scholarship. As the pressure mounts, you question whether cutting corners using performance-enhancing substances or even supplements would be worth the risk. As you seek advice from coaches, teammates, friends and even your parents, you are brought down different paths.

In Always Picked Last, you are a young elf who is always picked last. Many adventures await when your elf dad suggests that you gain confidence by being good at something that no one else does. Confronting “Weed People” (aka humans) in the Upper World, accepting the help of a friendly troll, trying out magic and rainbow surfing—which path will finally have you picked first and which will leave you feeling like “the biggest loser of all elf history?”

“Anti-doping is not only about elite athletes. It is about kids and helping children make the right choices when faced with decisions that challenge what they know to be right or wrong,” said WADA’s President John Fahey. “If children have the knowledge of the harm that can be done to their health, if they understand how their lives can de destroyed by taking these performance-enhancing substances, there is a good chance that they will turn their backs on the temptation. The Choose Your Own Adventure books allow kids to explore different paths, seeing the outcomes of their choices, without suffering the real-life consequences of their decisions.”

“When WADA asked if I was interested in writing a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) book on the subject of doping, I almost shouted YES!,” said R.A. Montgomery, author and series founder. “That’s what CYOA is all about: Making choices. Cheating and drugs in sport is a huge issue involving health, honesty, power and money. It has a negative effect on kids by setting a bad example.”

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