What Athletic Directors Can Do About the Steroid Abuse Crisis?

Anabolic steroids are no longer reserved for professional athletes who are looking for an extra advantage. Nowadays every athlete is looking to obtain an advantage over the competition. Some athletes simply up the intensity of their training and go on special diets, while others take the easy route or look for the quick fix which is steroids. In a study conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2003 over one million junior high and high school aged kids admitted to trying steroids. Other scientific reports suggest that steroid use is on the rise regardless of athletic participation and that even six-graders are getting juiced!

When children discuss competitive sports they usually speak in the future tense. In junior high you want to know what it takes to make varsity in high school. Once you get to high school you want to know what it takes to obtain an athletic scholarship at a university. Finally once you enter collegiate athletics you want to know what it takes to play and excel at the professional level. When a kid realizes that steroids can help you physically obtain those goals they tend to forget about what steroids usually tend to do to their mind and body. Steroid abuse is attributed to heart, liver, kidney, and lung damage. Steroids also can affect your reproductive and psychological systems. You could become increasingly angry, depressed, aggressive, and even suicidal. Most cases of high school steroid abuse go un-noticed until the problem has grown out of control. It has gotten so out of control that the National Association of State Boards of Education and Congress are pushing for high school drug testing to include screenings for steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.

Dr. Bruce Svare, the author of the article I have chosen, has come up with six steps that a good high school athletics program should practice to stop the spread of steroid abuse among young athletes. First, you must recognize that there is a problem. You can no longer be in denial about steroid use in young athletes. They are doing it and will continue to do it unless they are caught. Second, you must educate your school community about the problem. You need to correctly inform every person associated with the athletic program in any way of the problem. They need to know the causes, risks, and effects of steroid abuse. Third, you need to become familiar with the signs of steroid abuse and the legal consequences for possession and distribution. Athletic Directors need to know the warning signs and share the information with coaches and parents. Let them know to look for rapid physical and emotional changes as the combinations of several changes can be the indicator of abuse. Tell athletes and their parents that they can receive years of jail time and thousands of dollars worth