Two years since he began taking its products, Duncan Park Tennis Pro Frankie Spence is a strong advocate for the sports performance nutrients he takes most every day.

As a matter of fact, Spence is an independent distributor for AdvoCare.

&uot;The first time I took it, I had more energy that day,&uot; Spence said. &uot;I drank tons of Cokes, but I quit drinking Cokes that day. It was like the movie ‘Cocoon’ I found my egg that day.&uot;

Spence said he doesn’t find as much resistence to selling the product as he did when he first started.

&uot;I think people were just waiting to see if it killed me,&uot;&160;Spence said.

Spence, 41, said the product is broken down into three segments – before, during and after workouts.

The first thing Spence takes is a nutritional mix called Spark.

&uot;Before you participate in a sport, you need something to hydrate,&uot; Spence said. &uot;A lot of athletes are tense and nervous before an event and lose a lot of fluids.&uot;

Then comes POS (Premium Optimizer System) 2, which comes in a 15.7-ounce can.

&uot;You take that after you work out, usually within 15 minutes because your muscles have worked hard and are waiting on something,&uot; Spence said.

POS 1 is used just when falling to sleep and the user must be 18 years or older to use these pills.

&uot;They are for older athletes to speed up their testosterone,&uot; Spence said.

Spence began taking Advocare products two years ago when he heard about it through a friend.

&uot;I was looking for something that would give me energy and give me a little edge,&uot; Spence said. &uot;It increased by energy and my recovery time was a lot quicker,&uot; Spence said.

Spence said 11 NFL teams use the product, while Mississippi prep football power South Panola High School also uses it.

No schools in the Miss-Lou use it.

Dr. Vann Craig of Natchez also sells the product.

Craig, who uses the product more for weight loss, went out to Dallas to a school to look into the company.

&uot;It’s a very good product and they do what they say they are going to do,&uot; Craig said. &uot;I sat down with a scientific panel and the people responsible for creating it and probed them one on one, picking their brains. One of them told me he had a hand in academic scientific standing and wasn’t about to associate with a product that would leave him with a black smudge on his coat.&uot;

Craig said other physicians were skeptical.

&uot;I was too, but I saw immediately that it was not harmful,&uot;&160;he said. &uot;The thing is that it works better with the proper food and you need to eat.&uot;

Craig said Spark is actually being studied as a treatment for Attention Deficit Disorder.

Craig said anyone concerned with taking the product can check their physician.

&uot;Let him look at it,&uot; he said. &uot;AvoCare is the only company that is listed in the Physician’s Desk Reference since 1999.&uot;

Of course, the most famous supplement is Creatine, which Mark McGwire admitted to using last year.

&uot;There are two grams of Creatine in POS2,&uot; Spence said. &uot;Creatine is an energy source. Everybody thinks it’s a secret weapon. The problem with Creatine is that people overuse it.&uot;

While Creatine is sold over the counter, McGwire’s admission of using androstenedione cause ripples because the muscle enchancing pill is only legal in Major League Baseball.

&uot;That is illegal in every other sport and is not something I would endorse,&uot; Spence said.

Spence will be present at a coach’s clinic Jan. 22, 2000 at Louisiana Tech. Sports performance expert Dave Redding, who was strength coach for the Kansas City Chiefs for 14 years, will speak for AdvoCare.

They will also be on hand at next year’s Southwest Coaches and Officials Conference for the second straight year.