The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS) in January recommended new Association-wide funding of four initiatives it has identified as student-athlete health and safety priorities.

Enhancement of the Injury Surveillance System;

Continuation of the Dietary Supplement Resource Exchange Center (REC);

Expansion of the drug-testing program; and

Piloting the STARR project at Division I and II institutions.

These initiatives were given high priority because they provide the NCAA a means to monitor health and safety concerns of student-athletes and provide effective intervention in problem areas. This is in keeping with the mission of CSMAS, which is to serve the Association through effective health education, research, drug testing and outreach to partner with other like-minded organizations.

The Injury Surveillance System is the process used by the NCAA to track sports injuries and provide information to sports governing bodies and NCAA member institutions on frequently occurring injuries.

The current system has an outdated data collection system. It is limited in the number of sports it monitors and the ability to track overuse injuries and rare, catastrophic injuries. Upgrades will expand the data to include every school, every sport and every participant, and create a national pool of data necessary to more effectively direct sports injury prevention efforts.

The Dietary Supplement Resource Exchange Center (REC) has arisen out of the recent market explosion of nutritional supplements. These products are easily available at "health food/nutrition stores" and through the Internet. Unfortunately, they are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration -- being neither food nor drug -- and may contain NCAA-banned substances and/or ingredients that have not been thoroughly tested for long-term negative effects.

The REC reports provide information on supplement use trends and forwards information to the FDA about reported negative side effects associated with these products.

Expansion of the drug-testing program has been a CSMAS priority for three years. When the NCAA established a drug-testing program in 1986, a marked drop in steroid use in collegiate football soon followed.

In the intervening years, the use of performance-enhancing drugs spread to other sports. The committee believes year-round drug testing in baseball and swimming is overdue.

The STARR campaign takes a new approach to alcohol-abuse prevention, using social-norm marketing and peer education to promote the low-risk majority behaviors that exist on campus. This strategy employs a more positive approach to changing behaviors, believed to be more effective than scare tactics and "just say no."

A pilot project, including a comprehensive assessment of impact, is under development for Division III schools. Funding is requested to expand the pilot across all three divisions.

The competitive-safeguards committee is committed to promoting a healthy athletics environment. For more information on these and any other health and safety initiatives, contact the NCAA health and safety staff at 317/917-6313.

Bryan W. Smith is the head team physician at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and CSMAS chair.