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Steroid use and testing of high school athletes

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posted on Sep, 16 2018 @ 11:40 PM
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I started looking at some football rosters for my state and I'm hard pressed to see a difference in player size between many of the teams (which are from small public schools - so not a private school that recruits for sports) and those of D1 and even professional teams. The thing is that some of these players that are this size aren't even seniors or juniors, some of the sophmores and freshmen are humungous and many of these XXXL players have a non-traditional name (for the area), meaning they are of a minority group which in itself means nothing but when you see patterns like this, fr and sophmores being 6'4 - 6'8" and 300-350lbs, I have to question their age (and what they are eating/drinking). When I was a senior there were a couple players like this in the nation and they were well known by a lot of high school players b/c they had their pick of schools. Back then there were also questions about age for all of those big boys as well, most all had some kind of odd background with name changes, multiple "foster families" (often family members), home, out of state/country births, and many other oddities. I have no idea if these oddities are common among current players as I don't follow closely.

I know a lot of players get booted out of college the first year or 2 for "performance enhancing drug" use. I never heard of tests in high school except in rare occasions. There is the physical before the season but I know they didn't test for steroids, but they scared the kids into thinking they did so many players stayed clean.

The problem with not testing everyone, and on an ongoing basis throughout the season (and don't whine about cost, this is a WELL FUNDED industry!) is it destroys the game from many angles. It takes away the chance of honest players of being the starter b/c the cheater is bigger and stronger. The cheater thinks he's all that (and maybe he is great at the game) but it's a false reality because when/if they get to college, they are most often outed as steroid users and kicked off the team. So there goes that scholarship/college - one that could have gone to an honest player - and the college team is hurt b/c they bet on someone they thought had natural talent/genetics, etc.

I wonder how many players get caught up in this and get kicked out of college b/c of this and how much it effects the colleges. Colleges should demand in-season testing for HS so they know their prospects are clean, and the schools/states that don't comply then their players are looked at as suspect.

I'd really like to know what the sport(s) would look like if all the athletes were clean.



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 02:51 AM
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Half my Hs football team was roided out and I thought about it but chose not to inject unknown chemicals of unknown potency into my body and I’m glad I made that choice I didn’t feel at a disadvantage personally but that was just me and I was a big boy.



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 04:11 AM
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originally posted by: BigDave-AR
Half my Hs football team was roided out and I thought about it but chose not to inject unknown chemicals of unknown potency into my body and I’m glad I made that choice I didn’t feel at a disadvantage personally but that was just me and I was a big boy.


I can't say anyone on my team did it, but I have strong suspicions, and there were some issues with my teamates once they reached college (as I mentioned above).

I looked at a team whose average team weight has increased about 30lbs over 20 years and even more probably 35-40lbs, in 35-45 years (don't have records for rosters going back that far). The difference is that while there are some kids that are taller, there haven't been the same correlation to height, so the weight is largely muscle or fat.

It'd be easy to test each game, at half time you have the referee go to each locker room and the team sends out the people who played (starters, actual players) and they "draw straws" and the 5 or 6 people who get the "short straw" (could be colored marbles in a bag, whatever) do a pee test immediately with the ref. They seal it up, sign it, player signs theirs, coach signs the sample box, and it is sent/picked up by a lab to test. Or I'm guessing there are instant tests now. I think they can actually test through urine, saliva, sweat and even breath (and also tell if you are pregnant) - these are less accurate but I think they are like ~90% accurate and unless you have some other health problem that causes a false positive then they have a much higher level of accuracy.

When I was in middle school I talked to a guy who played for one of our biggest rivals when he was young (about 12-15 years older than me) and he said that almost the whole team juiced but this was before it was really talked about, early 80's or so, maybe before - think around time Arnold made Pumping Iron - or a little after. It sure made me look at how some of the teams played and I understood how a team would have 9 state championships in 12 years or something close to that.



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 06:58 AM
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If my daughters football team is on steroids they should be getting a refund.

I can say with absolute certainty that our school is pretty selective on the drug testing though.
A couple was caught with a vape last school year and the wrestler "a senior" did not get benched but his girlfriend "a junior" is sitting 1/4 of the volleyball season this year. Go figure.

She was drug tested, he was not and neither until after wrestling was over.

My daughter says she only knows of a few kids that have been "random" tested and they were all caught in the act so the school didn't have a choice.

I can only assume that steroids fall under the drug policy but I have not heard of anyone being tested.



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 07:05 AM
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What is the point of high school athletes? Isn't that just public schools admitting they are failing some kids and trying to compensate by having them use their youth and health to get into college because they don't have the money or brains to do it?



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 07:14 AM
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a reply to: BrianFlanders

Not really.
Very few high school athletes go to college on athletic scholarships.



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 07:59 AM
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originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: BrianFlanders

Not really.
Very few high school athletes go to college on athletic scholarships.


But that is what they're trying to do, right?



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 08:30 AM
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a reply to: BrianFlanders


I don't think so.
It's really not all that difficult to get into a college or get student loans.
And to be honest I think you might be understanding the intelligence of many athletes.



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 09:10 AM
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originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: BrianFlanders


I don't think so.
It's really not all that difficult to get into a college or get student loans.


It's pretty difficult to pay student loans back if you don't get a damn good job when you get out of college. Which many don't. Either that or they immediately go into debt and buy expensive houses and cars on top of their student loan debt and then poop out 3 autistic rugrats to complete the ensemble of financial doom.

You might be overestimating the common sense of the average American college grad.
edit on 17-9-2018 by BrianFlanders because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 02:46 PM
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originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: BrianFlanders

Not really.
Very few high school athletes go to college on athletic scholarships.


But that is what they're trying to do, right?


Actually no, I wasn't trying to.

I needed the physical activity and loved the competition. I did it because it was fun and I enjoyed it. That it ended up getting me a college scholarship on top of the academic ones I earned was gravy.

I competed in just about anything competitive in high school, including sports, but I would have hated looking like a meatball because I didn't have basketball and track and field available to me. Lot of really good times and memories tied up there.



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 02:48 PM
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originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: BrianFlanders

Not really.
Very few high school athletes go to college on athletic scholarships.


But that is what they're trying to do, right?


Actually no, I wasn't trying to.

I needed the physical activity and loved the competition. I did it because it was fun and I enjoyed it. That it ended up getting me a college scholarship on top of the academic ones I earned was gravy.

I competed in just about anything competitive in high school, including sports, but I would have hated looking like a meatball because I didn't have basketball and track and field available to me. Lot of really good times and memories tied up there.


OK. But in general, poor kids are looking for any path to a free college degree, wouldn't you say?



posted on Sep, 17 2018 @ 03:01 PM
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originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: BrianFlanders

Not really.
Very few high school athletes go to college on athletic scholarships.


But that is what they're trying to do, right?


Actually no, I wasn't trying to.

I needed the physical activity and loved the competition. I did it because it was fun and I enjoyed it. That it ended up getting me a college scholarship on top of the academic ones I earned was gravy.

I competed in just about anything competitive in high school, including sports, but I would have hated looking like a meatball because I didn't have basketball and track and field available to me. Lot of really good times and memories tied up there.


OK. But in general, poor kids are looking for any path to a free college degree, wouldn't you say?


Having spent time teaching poor kids in the inner city, no I wouldn't say.

A good number of them are just looking for any way to get rich quick. So yeah, a number of them are looking at sports because they want to go pro. College in that case is just a speed bump in the way. The rest are wanting to be rappers or gangsters.

Very few are at all concerned about an education and college. The ones who were weren't actually in the school I taught at. They had tested into the elite college prep academy.




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