Educating America’s youth on the dangers of anabolic steroids and
appearance & performance enhancing drugs (APEDs).

What is Hoot's Chalk Talk?

Hoot’s Chalk Talk is the name of a family of programs that have been created to raise the awareness and provide education on the subject of the use and abuse of appearance and performance enhancing drugs (APEDs) by the youth of America with a focus on anabolic steroids and supplements. Two programs make up core educational programs of the Taylor Hooton Foundation (THF):

a) An in-person multi-media program that we call Hoot's Chalk Talk, and

b) An online program that we call Hoot's Chalk Talk e-Learning Program.

These two Hoot’s Chalk Talk programs not only provide factual information about the dangers of APEDs and supplements, they also explore the honor and integrity character traits that are too often missing among today’s youth.

Our programs are very timely. The nightly news continues to identify high profile elite athletes who have used or are using anabolic steroids or other appearance and performance enhancing drugs. This drug use by our top athletes is fueling a near epidemic of similar drug usage by our youth. Most experts agree that somewhere between 750,000 and a million of our children have admitted to using anabolic steroids, and that usage rate is increasing. Most people are surprised to learn that the fastest growing group of APEDs users is our teen girls who are using these drugs to look leaner and to win at sports. Additionally, the U.S. sales for sports supplements has reached the staggering $20 billion mark. And, multiple industry studies are showing that as many as 20% of the supplements in this unregulated market are spiked with anabolic steroids. These supplements are readily available over the counter in our local health food stores and are taken by 12-20% of high school students.

Traditional drug education materials address the four “standard” categories of mind-altering drugs: stimulants, depressants, narcotics, and hallucinogens. A fifth category of drugs has been flying under our nation’s radar screen: appearance and performance enhancing drugs. These substances are taken to improve strength and performance in athletes, and most prevalently, they are used by non-athletes to improve their physique – to look better! Hoot’s Chalk Talk is designed to address this fifth category of drug abuse.

The Taylor Hooton Foundation has been approved by the State of Texas as a Continuing Education Provider. This means that educators who take our course in Texas are eligible to receive CEU or CPE hours towards their annual quota required by the State. We are actively working with other states to obtain similar approvals in other jurisdictions.

It is the foundation’s goal to deliver this program to over 10,000 major high schools and middle schools cross America over the next four years.

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Taylor's Story/THF

Taylor Hooton

The Taylor Hooton Foundation (THF) is the only entity, public or private, in the US dedicated to educating young people and their adult influencers about the dangers of APEDs. THF was founded in 2004 in memory Taylor E. Hooton, a 17-year old athlete from Plano, TX. Taylor committed suicide as a result of his anabolic steroid abuse. He came from a baseball family and was a promising high school pitcher. But more importantly, he was a great young man with a fun, loving personality. As an honor student, Taylor was about to begin his senior year and was pursuing college opportunities. He and his dad were getting ready to make college visits. He was just like other teenagers: spending time with his friends, cruising in his black Dodge truck with his girlfriend, listening to music. He loved baseball.

The Taylor Hooton Foundation was formed to help protect other young people from the dangers of these drugs and the fate that Taylor met. Hoot’s Chalk Talk was created by the Taylor Hooton Foundation as the vehicle to teach others about the dangers of APEDs. It is unfortunate that Taylor did not have the opportunity to be exposed to this information, because no such program existed at the time. If he had been exposed, maybe he would still be with us today.

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Hoot's Chalk Talk In-Person Program: History/Content

For the past six years, the Taylor Hooton Foundation has been providing schools across the country with a highly entertaining multi-media Hoot’s Chalk Talk educational program delivered by expert speakers. We deliver a strong message that captures the attention of all students, parents, educators, and coaches. Our programs are researched-based and have been developed in conjunction with the medical community, as well as young people. Research tells us that 85% of our nation’s high school students have never had an adult (coach, parent, or teacher) talk with them about the dangers of APEDs. Science-based before and after testing conducted by SAMHSA has proved that knowledge improves and attitudes change when kids see our program.

In addition to the core APEDs messages, our Hoot’s Chalk Talk program touches on other important topics that directly impact the character of teens today:

Honor and Integrity
Self Esteem / Self Image / Healthy Living
Suicide / Alcohol and its effects on performance
Decision making / Consequences / Refusal skills / Resiliency / Peer Pressure

The Hoot’s Chalk Talk program was created in conjunction with some of our partners: the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS), the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society, and Major League Baseball (MLB). Our anti-APEDs message would not be reaching kids without their ongoing support.

Attendees are eligible for 1 hour of Continuing Education Credit.

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Schedule a Hoot's Chalk Talk

To date, the Hoot’s Chalk Talk program has been presented directly to hundreds of thousands of young people, coaches, parents and other adult influencers in high school gyms and auditoriums across America. We have also presented this program to the US Olympic Committee athletes and USOC board of directors, to doctors groups, nurses groups, coaches, educators, insurers and other groups of adult leaders. In partnership with Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers (PBATS), the Taylor Hooton Foundation presents to kids in all thirty MLB parks in America and Canada every summer.

Our HCT programs are able to meet the presentation demands of a variety of audiences:

High Schools
Middle Schools
Parents
Educators and Coaches
Team Physicians, Family Doctors, and Athletic Trainers

What’s common to all Hoot’s Chalk Talk assemblies? Test results prove that our assemblies/presentations deliver a powerful message that is understood by the audience---a message that is true, fair, and filled with integrity. Hoot’s Chalk Talk assemblies/presentations are available for grades 6-12 and to adults. These multi-media programs are 45-60 minutes in length and available in all fifty states. A pre-test prior to the assembly and post -test after the assembly can be given to audiences to assess the impact of our assemblies/presentations. The results are always positive!

Schedule a Hoot's Chalk Talk

Our in-auditorium program is supplemented with an optional classroom program developed in partnership with the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Called “That’s Dope”, this multi-day classroom program is offered free of charge, focuses on APEDs and supplements, and meets the national requirements in four different subjects:

Physical Education
Science
English
Language Arts

Hoot's Chalk Talk e-Learning Program

We are proud to announce a brand new education program offered by the foundation: the Hoot's Chalk Talk e-Learning program. The first release of this new program is targeted at coaches and is the first of its kind in the United States. This in-depth education program is intended to provide our coaches with the information they need in order to keep their athletes away from APEDs. As part of their training, coaches will learn how to identify a steroid user and to be able to know how to deal with a student who they suspect is using these drugs.

Two Courses:

Coaches Course - 101

High level overview of APEDs topic
27 minute online program
Test to demonstrate mastery of the materials
Eligible for 1 hour of continuing education credit

Coaches Course - 501

"Masters Level" course on APEDs
2.5 hour program
Test to demonstrate mastery of the materials
Certificate issued to those who complete the course satisfactorily
Eligible for 4 hours of continuing education credit
e-Learning Course Overview:

To find out more about these courses and to sign up to take the Hoot's Chalk Talk e-Learning Program, please visit: www.Hoots Chalk Talk.org.

We are anxious to work with every high school coaches organization in the country with the hope that most of our coaches will be encouraged to take this course and earn a certificate for satisfactory completion of the course as demonstrated by passing the accompanying test.

Future: we are in the process of working with other organizations to adapt this test for use by other interested groups: