ATHLETES CHAMPION RED RIBBON WEEK

COACHELLA VALLEY -- Scott Saunders, A.J. Scott and Blair Tiedeman
weren't scoring points on the football field or volleyball court but
they still were getting cheers and applause.

The enthusiastic audience was comprised of 500 students at Cahuilla
Elementary School where the three Palm Springs High School athletes
went Friday to deliver a "stay-drug-free" message.

It's a message the Cahuilla students heard all week, as did students
across the valley as part of the nationwide Red Ribbon Week observance.

At Cahuilla, school officials decided that with the help of a few star
athletes from the nearby high school, they could end the week on a
strong anti-drug note.

"These are idols the kids look up to," Principal Renee Loewen said.
"The kids can identify with them more than they might with someone
else."

When asked to be a part of the program, Saunders and Tiedeman,
11th-graders, and Scott, a senior, accepted the invitation without
hesitation.

"It's important for younger kids to have older high school students as
role models," said Saunders, a quarterback on the football team.

"They can look up to us, see our achievements and strive to be like
us," he said.

"It's an important message -- why you shouldn't do drugs and what you
can achieve if you don't," said Tiedeman who's on the volleyball,
water polo and track teams.

The athletes told the students that if they decide they want to play
sports in school, they'll have to sign an agreement saying they won't
use drugs and alcohol.

"If you're using drugs you can't perform to your highest ability,"
Saunders said.

"Alcohol and drugs will hurt the team and you don't want to do
anything to hurt the team," he said.

"You have to put your teammates first -- always," said Scott, a
tailback on the football team and a member of the track and wrestling
teams.

The athletes also had some general advice for the students.

"Listen to your parents and work hard," Scott said.

"You need to choose good friends -- good friends influence you to make
good decisions," Saunders said.

Students had a few minutes to ask the athletes some
questions.

"What if you're in sports and someone accuses you of using drugs and
you don't but you get kicked off the team?" a student asked.

"A drug test will prove you're not," Tiedeman said.

"Good friends won't say bad things about you so choose friends
wisely," Saunders said.

Fifth-grader Brittny Lozano said she paid close attention to the
athletes because what they said was important.

"They said do well in school, make the right choices and don't do
alcohol and drugs," Brittny, 10, said.

"They taught us a lesson so we can make the right choices like they
did," she said.