Wrtten By:
Richard Obert
Nov. 15, 2007
Arcadia sophomore Andres Angel went to The Phoenician for extra credit in class. He left Wednesday night believing that maybe all schools should be testing for anabolic steroids.
Angel, 16, was among more than 100 students, coaches, parents and athletic directors attending the Scottsdale Unified School District's first Steroid Awareness Day Workshop, presented by two parents who saw steroids take their sons on a downward spiral that ultimately led to them taking their lives.
"I thought it was really informative," said Angel, a non-athlete, who added that he sees kids on campus that he suspects are on steroids. "You don't realize the emotional toll steroids have, how it might drive you in such a bad way." Speakers Don Hooton and Denise Garibaldi, who both testified in the Congressional hearings on steroids in March, 2005, showed startling statistics, grotesque pictures of male and female bodybuilders on steroids, and slides of their sons, budding baseball players, ballooning in size during their steroid abuse. They spoke of how the forced withdrawals from the drugs caused their sons to sink into deep depressions.
Taylor Hooton, a 17-year-old pitcher in Plano, Texas, hung himself in his room in July, 2003. A year earlier, Rob Garibaldi, a 24-year-old who played at Southern California, killed himself.
"It's not about catching the kids," Hooton said. "It's about having a deterrent. The only way of putting a stop to it is to put them at risk."
Hooton, president and founder of the Taylor Hooton Foundation, was able to get Texas leaders to foot $6 million to legislate mandatory random drug testing student athletes for steroids in Texas high schools.
He is challenging the rest of the 49 states to do the same.
Clif McKenzie, executive director of the Scottsdale district's exceptional customer experience department, said he would like to see drug testing mandatory in all the high schools.
"More than anything this is not about athletics," said McKenzie, who added that Hooton will return for another presentation to educate the entire community. "It's about qualify of life.
"What we hope to do is first educate. Then, we'd like to go down the road to do testing, not only in Scottsdale but all over the Valley. We still have a road to go down, but we will continue to educate. This is on the larger level, too. The governor needs to get involved."
Dick Donahue, girls basketball coach at Desert Mountain, said he was surprised to hear that the fastest-growing group of users nationally is freshmen girls.
Chaparral High athletic director Antone Novak said he is not aware of any problems of student-athletes using steroids but would become more observant.
"I learned how much more I need to educate myself as an athletic director to be aware of all the signs in order to keep the kids safe," Novak said.
Saguaro football coach John Sanders said his friend, Dr. Dave Lewis, part of the substance-abuse program for the NHL, talks to his players every year during the off-season on the dangers of steroid use.
"We have a very intense conditioning program in the off-season, but we think it's important to get this message out, as well," said Sanders, who emphasizes proper nutrition.
