Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Sports Program

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. It is widely known and accepted that a majority of smokers begin smoking before adulthood. According to the CDC, tobacco use prevention education must be provided in elementary school and continued through the middle and high school years because many youth begin using tobacco before high school and impressions about tobacco use are formed even earlier. Tobacco-Free Sports is a youth-led, adult-guided initiative within the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) which educates elementary age youth and positively engages high school youth as mentors.

Tobacco-Free Sports works to involve as many positive role models as possible in delivering and reinforcing a tobacco-free message. By involving parents, coaches and older peers in prevention efforts, the tobacco-free message is reinforced three times. Youth who focus on sports, freedom from tobacco and other healthy lifestyle habits are more likely to become healthy, tobacco-free adults.

Program objectives are to:

- Plan and conduct five sets of interactive tobacco prevention mini-sessions for youth and parents in multiple school-linked settings;
- Plan and implement one annual media advocacy event coordinated with the national Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
- Plan and conduct tobacco educational outreach and implementation guidance for coaches and athletic staff. Teen Presenters deliver tobacco prevention mini-sessions to younger children, grades 1-6.

Since September 2000, the Program has been conducted during fall, winter, and spring youth sports recreation sessions and at several community-learning sites. Tobacco-Free Sports was initially implemented within the Milwaukee Public Schools Department of Recreation and Community Services. Due to its solid foundation, the content is easily used in other settings that require a brief interactive tobacco prevention message or it can be adapted for longer presentations. After the preliminary success of the program, Tobacco-Free Sports has been used as a template for other youth-led, adult-guided program presentations. Examples include local community center basketball games, cultural center music and dance programs and within school classroom settings.