IHSA getting involved in steroid issue

January 31, 2007

Of the news coming from Bloomington this month from the IHSA offices, much has been mundane.

For example, the soccer seasons are to be extended by a few days. Lacrosse moved one step closer to its first official state championship as the IHSA set up a committee to study the issue.

And then there is this: The IHSA has approved a list of banned performance-enhancing substances, has made it against association rules for coaches, boosters or school officials to distribute these substances and is considering a plan in which it will conduct random drug tests at state finals in various sports.

Football and basketball will certainly be two of the sports chosen for testing. Swimming and track — sports with severely drug-tarnished reputations at the international level — will likely also be included.

In conjunction with this, the IHSA is increasing its educational profile on steroids, human growth hormones, designer drugs or supplements with a Feb. 17 seminar at Richards High School in Oak Lawn.

I share the IHSA’s wish — to eliminate performance-enhancing substances from our playing fields. Fortunately, it hasn’t yet appeared to be anywhere near the problem at this level that it has become as athletes mature.

There is no doubting the influence of drugs in sports, and it has long been naïve of high school athletics to think itself somehow immune when colleges and professional leagues are blighted by the problem.

What data exists suggests, however, that the problem is far from widespread at the high school level. The American Medical Association has published a study that suggests that overall youth steroid use doubled to 4 percent between 1991 and 2002.

A 2003 Centers for Disease Control survey on many youth behaviors reported that 6 percent of responding high school students took steroids not prescribed by a doctor.

So the numbers, while not a flood, appear to be increasing.

I’m not sure this will be a great deterrent. Word of drug testing gets everyone’s attention. But what the IHSA is suggesting — and what it is not — show more than a few holes in the policy.

First, there is the problem that this is testing that will be done at the state finals level. Don’t expect the drug testing folks to show up for a mundane nonconference game in the second week of the season.

If you’re a college-bound athlete on an average team, you have little to worry about — other than the risks you’re taking by taking these potentially life-threatening substances or the fact that the NCAA is also considering a beefed-up drug-testing program.

But as a prep athlete, your worries in this instance will be few. Where an elite international athlete can count on being tested, it is possible to try to cheat and beat random testing. At a probable $175 per test, it’s impossible to test everyone or to test more frequently.

If you’re a multi-sport athlete, it’s possible you could be tested for one sport and not the other. Baseball, soccer, tennis and other sports may or may not be in the final list of sports to be tested. But not every athlete will compete in the knowledge that he or she could be tested.

Again, this comes down to economics. I am sure the IHSA would conduct widespread testing in all sports if it had the money. But that weakens the overall impact.

Finally, there is study data that show intervention works in deterring or dissuading athletes from taking illegal substances. This is more than pamphlets available at school, but information such as the IHSA intends to provide at its Feb. 17 seminar at Richards. Doctors and trainers will discuss the issue of performance-enhancing drugs and supplements.

And they have invited everyone. Unlike the testing, the invitation to attend is all-inclusive. Hopefully there will be more of these as well.