Olympic Gold Medalist, David Smith has joined with other athletes in the 'Be the Influence - Tackling Binge Drinking' initiative that today launched a new video.
The Be the Influence – Tackling Binge Drinking initiative, part of the National Binge Drinking Strategy, is a sponsorship partnership between the Australian Government and 14 national sporting organisations, including Netball Australia, the Football Federation of Australia and Swimming Australia, that aims to address binge drinking and the influence of alcohol promotion on young Australians.
These partnerships provide an alternative to alcohol sponsorship that enables sporting organisations to provide environments, from national to community level, that are free of alcohol promotion and messaging.
The ‘strong enough to say enough’ video will now be shown on in-stadium video screens at sporting events all across the country starting with this weekend’s Football A-League and National Basketball League games.
Australian Netball Diamond Natalie Medhurst is one of the athletes making a pledge to help tackle youth binge drinking.
“I’m proud to be a part of Be the Influence because the less exposure young people have to alcohol promotion, the better,” Ms Medhurst said.
The initiative is being managed by the Australian National Preventive Health Agency and CEO Louise Sylvan says, “It’s pleasing that many of our athletes feel strongly enough to put their names and voices to this initiative.”
“This video brings together some of Australia’s leading athletes to tackle youth binge drinking by inspiring young people to make their own decisions, stand up for what they believe in and be ‘strong enough to say enough,’ says Ms Sylvan.
Other Athlete Ambassadors that appear in the video include: Swim star and Olympic silver medallist Christian Sprenger, Olympic cyclist Shane Perkins, and Commonwealth Games hockey gold medallist Anna Flanagan.
Since the launch of the initiative in June 2012 the Be the Influence messaging has already been seen and heard at nearly 1,000 events around Australia through venue signage, in stadium announcements and uniform branding.
Binge drinking is a significant problem in Australia, impacting individuals and communities:
