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Puello Herrera ponders on volleyball as a clean sport

 

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, February 24, 2014 – The President of the FIVB Ethics Panel reflected on the importance of the role played by the different Medical Commissions to keep the sport clean of prohibited drugs.

 

Dr. Jose Joaquin Puello Herrera, member of the IOC Medical Commission and President Ad Vitam of the Dominican Republic Olympic Committee, was the special guest to the annual meeting of the NORCECA Medical Commission which took place on Sunday.

 

“I want to congratulate the NORCECA Medical Commission for the great effort their members do to prevent the consumption of banned substances with the educational programs developed by FIVB and the IOC,” Puello Herrera expressed. “We need to duplicate those efforts to keep up the battle against the attempts to taint the sport.”

 

Puello Herrera, who is a neurosurgeon, praised volleyball and beach volleyball as role models of clean sports, and also expressed concerns about the use of social drugs and the eventual damage to the brain and the behavior of people in society.

 

“The educational programs implemented by the international sport organizations must include the prevention of the use of those harmful drugs for the health of the individuals as we aim for better societies,” Puello Herrera said.

 

Puello Herrera, former President of the Central American Sport Organization (CACSO) who presided over the Organizing Committee of the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, was invited to participate in the meeting by NORCECA President Cristobal Marte Hoffiz.

 

“I think we all can learn from the experience of a distinguished professional like Dr. Puello Herrera, who has had a long and successful career as medical doctor and sport leader,” Marte Hoffiz said as he introduced of the graduated from Oxford University, England.

 

During the meeting, Dr. Victor Figueroa, President of NORCECA Medical Commission, made report on the updated prohibited list of substances of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), prohibited methods and the monitoring program.

 

He also presented a report on the education program carried out during the U19 and U21 FIVB World Championships held in Mexico and Turkey, respectively. In line with this program, now NORCECA will conduct a similar one during the U20 and U21 Continental Championships to be held in Guatemala and El Salvador, respectively, later this year.

 

Dr. Figueroa touched bases on the regulations and procedures of the Therapeutic Use Exemption and the importance of respecting the periods of notification by those athletes who, to avoid health problems, depends of those kind of drugs that do not produce significant enhancement of performance.

 

Dr. Raul Medina, who is the Anti-Doping Test Coordinator, made a report on all the test controls taken in 2013 and announced the increase of the program in 2014 in both volleyball and beach volleyball.

 

Nelson Ramirez, Director of the FIVB/NORCECA Regional Development Center in Dominican Republic, commented about the importance of the Course for Anti-Doping Officials which is scheduled to be held in Santo Domingo on August 22-28.

 

One of the decisions adopted was to propose to the Board of Administration to designate Dr. Juan Carlos Rodas of Guatemala as new secretary of the commission.