Teenage Steroid Use – What Must Be Done?

Over the last few posts we have looked at the issue of steroid use by high school athletes. As a former high school coach and athletic administrator, it has been difficult to imagine that this issue has moved from the professional to collegiate to high school level. Fifteen years ago the idea of testing high school kids for steroid use would have been unthinkable.

The Basis for the Problem
In fact, for many people today it is still unthinkable to be drug testing these student-athletes. But because of what we adults have done with sports, our teenagers now pay a hefty price. We as a society place too much emphasis on athletic prowess and bestow far too many accolades on those who excel in that arena. The idea of enhancing one’s body through steroid is a direct result of that adult emphasis. For far too many youngsters, sports achievement is seen as the way to become someone important at school and in the community.

In addition, in America we also place so much emphasis on body image. The athletically sculpted body is considered a thing of beauty. We offer competitions for the most muscular of physiques and body builders now cross gender lines. Steroids are way to produce the body that so many admire – is it not any wonder that our teenagers are turning to performance enhancing drugs to create that body type.

What Are We to Do?
We have now inherited what we have created. Clearly the data shows that the steroid issue has becoming larger with each passing year and is now so significant that something must be done.

But what is that something? The answer to that depends on the purpose. Certainly everyone wants amateur athletics to be free of steroid abuses and it is imperative that we protect our student athletes and the integrity of competition. But what of those teenagers who are not competing but using. Are they not subjecting their bodies to the same issues as those who compete in athletics?

Yes, if we want to protect the integrity of amateur competition it is likely we must drug test our athletes. It is the only sure way to bring users out into the open. But the data also shows that this problem transcends sports and spills over into the student body as a whole.

Therefore it is imperative that we consider educational models such as ATLAS and ATHENA so as to inform our youngsters of the dangers of drugs of all forms. Should we not warn those who compete as well as those who don’t?

It is also imperative that we adults begin to foster the original essence of why schools offer athletic competitions to begin with. Every community needs to take a peak at the Sports Done Right concept that is being enacted in the state of Maine.

The importance of sports at the high school level is that it provides the opportunity to teach lessons that do not exist in the classroom. If we could get people to understand that, then the at least one rationale for using steroids would be eliminated.