Bigger, Stronger, Faster: Recruiting Pressure Drives Some To Steroids
Feb 7, 2007
Bigger, stronger, faster... it's become the mantra for high school sports. And for many young athletes, It's the key to going pro. But in reality, only two percent of high schoolers will receive an athletic scholarship.
Competition is fierce, and recruits are taking big risks.
Meet Max Minor, senior running back at Westlake High School, star player and student-athlete trying to earn a college scholarship the right way.
"It happens with every high school team," Minor said. "There's always someone that wants to get an extra edge by cheating."
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 40 percent of high school seniors say steroids are easy to get. NBC's Friday Night Lights understands it's an issue, and local coaches see the temptation first-hand.
"Wanting to go to a big-time Division I school, that will make you do a lot of things," said Claude Mathis, LBJ High School head football coach. "Going to a big-time Division I school, especially one you really want to go to, will push a kid to do things he's not supposed to do."
Information on the effects of steroids is available, but some teenagers feel like the reward is worth the risk.
"You have to look at all the things that kids are tempted by, and there's so much out there on the Internet, there's so much available for kids to take shortcuts and, unfortunately, some kids make bad decisions about their health," said UIL Athletic Director Dr. Charles Breithaupt. "And that's one thing we're concerned about."
College recruiting can begin as early as junior high for some sports, pressuring some kids into feeling they need to be physically mature at a younger age to be successful.
"Colleges like lineman that are 6-6, 300 lbs," said Westlake head coach Derek Long. "They like running backs that run a 4.4 or 4.3. Not all of us have those physical attributes."
Division I programs are constantly competing for the nation's top recruits. And now it's common for a college to have commitments before an athlete even begins their senior year of high school.
"It doesn't allow for the young man that matured physically slower and has a great senior year," Long said. "They're not even on the radar with most schools."
High school sports in Texas are monitored by the University Interscholastic League, and right now, there is no formal screening process for drugs. Optional testing is in the hands of the local school districts. That means kids who cheat are not likely to get caught.
"Unless you're the cream of the crop, No. 1 in the nation, unless you have coaches knocking on your door, it's hard to get yourself out there," Minor said. "It's a matter of selling yourself and getting those coaches calling and talking and anything you can do to play at the next level."
Anything, for Minor, does not include steroids. He's done the research and knows what they can do.
"I've personally written three papers on steroids in high school," Minor said. "They can cause anything that's harmful to you. Liver disease, blood clotting. They can cause your bones and joints to disintegrate."
But a lot of kids don't think that way.
"Most of us don't," said Dusty Davidson, who signed a letter of intent with Princeton. "We're 17-18-years-old. We're invincible, you know. It always happens to someone else. But the reality is [that] it doesn't happen to someone else."
Steroid abuse is associated with a wide range of physical problems in teenagers... everything from acne breakouts to heart disease.
