The Kansas City Royals are standing up against the proliferation of pornography in society. Last week, the baseball team hosted a seminar for minor-league players, working alongside anti-porn group, “Fight the New Drug.”
“Fight the New Drug exists to provide individuals the opportunity to make an informed decision regarding pornography by raising awareness on its harmful effects using only science, facts, and personal accounts,” the organization’s website states.
“Our team presents research in schools and youth forums around the world to educate individuals about the harmful effects of pornography. We also publish research-backed content to help people learn about the harmful effects of pornography.”
In a recent blog post, Fight the New Drug announced their work with the Royals:
“We’re proud to say that this past weekend Dayton Moore, General Manager of the Kansas City Royals, invited our team out to their spring training weekend for a live presentation event with their coaches and players, and it went fantastically.”
The group also took to social media to publicize their efforts with the Royals.
“The Royals are the first #MLB team to actively take a stand against porn,” the group wrote in an Instagram post. “We’re inspired that they’re stepping up to the plate.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf9VZXGlHLh/?taken-by=fightthenewdrug
The Royals’ strength and conditioning coach, Austin Womack, also posted on Instagram, opening up about his personal struggle with pornography addiction.
“Today I had the honor of listening to Clay and the rest of the guys at @fightthenewdrug present on the harmful effects of pornography,” he wrote. “Words really can’t express how much fighting the battle against pornography addiction means to me, and how grateful I am to be a part of the @kcroyals organization, the first organization in professional baseball to actively fight against porn addiction. It says a ton about the kind of men we have in leadership roles and it makes me even more eager to serve under them.”
The post continues:
“My personal story with porn addiction started when I was around 12-13 and it accelerated into an addiction throughout high school in college. In those years if you would’ve asked me if I had an addiction I would’ve said ‘Heck no. Addiction is for stuff like alcohol and drugs.’ Especially because of how normal porn is in our society today. All my friends watched it. It really wasn’t a big deal.”
It was only when Womack tried to end his habit of watching porn that he realized the drastically negative effects it was having on his personal life.
“It wasn’t until I actively started to fight this addiction, and see victory in this addiction, that I began to realize that there were areas of my life that were negatively affected by my porn addiction,” he added. “My relationships with girls was the main victim, but it also affected other things like my sleep habits. Also, it’s a super tough addiction to beat, which confirms to me that this thing really is an addiction.”
Despite some progress, Womack said that he would regularly regress back into his old habit. Then, through Fight the New Drug, he began to find freedom.
“5 months ago I started the Fortify Program @joinfortify offered by @fightthenewdrug. Since then I have refrained from viewing porn, which makes this current streak the longest since I was first exposed to porn over a decade ago,” the coach, who declares that he is a “Follower of Jesus Christ” on his Instagram page, explained.
“I still face temptation all the time. Its tough. It’s a daily battle. But it’s a battle that is winnable and the positive repercussions from beating this addiction are more than worth the fight. My life is proof.”
The battle against pornography addiction has long been a goal for the Royals. Last year, the team’s vice president of communications and broadcasting, Mike Swanson, talked of the “leadership” classes that are offered to players.
“We talk about pornography, and the effects of what that does to the minds of players and the distractions, and how that leads to abuse of — domestic abuse — to abuse of women. How it impacts relationships — we talk about a lot of things.” Moore told reporters at a news conference last year, as reported by the Kansas City Star.
“Fight The New Drug” revealed that their meeting came about after they approached the Royals following these bold remarks from Swanson. Following that initial contact, the two organizations continued to collaborate.
“The Royals’ leadership team flew out to our world headquarters to brainstorm how we could partner together in this fight for love and move the needle on this issue,” Fight the New Drug explained. “Needless to say, it was an incredible day for everyone that resulted in awesome collaboration ideas.”
“And this past weekend, those goals became reality at our groundbreaking spring training presentation event where over 200 Royals players, coaches, trainers, and staff attended.”
“It says a lot about the organization, that they care so much,” FTND Co-Founder and President Clay Olsen said. “Not only do they care about how the players perform on the field, but they also care about the overall well-being of the players and how they’re doing off the field, as well.”
(H/T: Fight the New Drug)