On the weekends of January 21, and February 11, more than 300 student-athletes, athletic trainers, coaches and administrators from more than 60 NCAA schools attended the ninth annual Athletic Prevention Programming and Leadership Education (APPLE) conferences in Charlottesville, Virginia. These conferences, hosted by the University of Virginia and funded by NCAA drug-education funds approved by the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, are based on the APPLE model, created in 1991 by Susan Grossman, former Director of Virginia's Institute for Substance Abuse Studies, and Joe Gieck, director of sports medicine at Virginia.

The APPLE model provides a guide for users to evaluate and improve all aspects of the current alcohol and other drug programs in their athletics department. Seven "slices" come together to serve as the guiding principles for a comprehensive prevention program: recruitment practices; expectations and attitudes; educational programs; policies; drug testing; discipline; and referral and counseling. Prior to the conference, each school completed a survey designed to assess its current development in each of the seven slices. "Prevention teams," made up of at least one student-athlete plus administrators, athletic trainers, coaches or other athletics department personnel, represented each participating school. Presented with their scores at the conference, these teams of four to six people chose one or two "slices" on which to concentrate their efforts.

Many exceptional speakers made outstanding presentations throughout the weekend. Linda Hancock, assistant director of Virginia Commonwealth University's office of health promotion, spoke to the students about "Love and Liquor." The students were also given the chance to learn more about the Student-Athlete Mentor (SAM) program, started at Virginia in 1990 by Grossman and Gieck. The SAM program emphasizes peer education and leadership, and through the APPLE conference, has been successfully implemented in numerous colleges and universities over the past nine years.

Robin Sawyer, associate professor of the University of Maryland's department of health education, presented "Violence, Alcohol and Athletics" and also talked to administrators about student-athletes as a high-risk group. Other presenter topics included coach/team relationships, drug testing and developing policy.

Saturday night's key speaker, Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills, gave an inspiring address about the struggle to realize his dream. Mills grew up in virtual poverty on a reservation and was orphaned at the age of 12. He was sent to a boarding school where he started running to escape the pain in his life. Essentially an unknown at the 1964 Olympics, Mills came from behind to win the 10,000-meter run.

One APPLE participant commented, "We finally have some groundwork to move forward with our goals and procedures. I look forward to returning next year to show the progress and improvements we have made, and start working on the remaining sections of the APPLE."

This opinion can be attributed to another integral element of the conference--team meetings. Throughout the weekend, school teams met to identify areas in need of improvement, develop goals, and formulate action plans. Virginia's Institute for Substance Abuse Studies will use these action plans to track progress and offer support over the next year. In 1999, 88 percent of schools reported making progress toward achieving their goals eight months after they attended the conference.

As Virginia Athletics Director Terry Holland said in his opening remarks at the January conference, "(The APPLE conference) is a chance to make a difference in the life of someone else." While substance abuse may be a universal problem on campuses nationwide, the APPLE conference gives participants the necessary tools to develop and implement customized programs for their athletics departments.