Amid concern over the validity of steroid test results, Texas governor Rick Perry and state Senator Kyle Janek, R-Houston, author of the steroid testing bill, have suggested that perhaps the UIL should postpone implementing random steroid testing for high school athletes in Texas.

Recent opposition to the bill stems from the possibility that the use of legal dietary supplements could lead to a false positive test result.  Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst claims that athletes who test positive for steroids will have a medical review where they may bring up dietary supplements as the reason for the positive test result.  But some drug testing company representatives say there is no way to prove what causes a urine sample to test positive for steroids.  So, essentially, the UIL would have to either take the athlete at his or her word or administer a uniform policy regarding all positive test results.

On Tuesday, Governor Perry claimed that until the UIL could be confident in the results of its proposed testing system, it should not submit athletes to the tests.  Senator Janek echoed those sentiments, suggesting that it would be better to wait and get the testing system right than to go ahead with the plan to test more than 20,000 students in the coming year, not knowing just how accurate the test results would be.

An issue that has not received a lot of attention is the involvement of high school coaches in the battle against steroid use.  Steroid use in teenagers causes rapid and obvious changes in a person’s physical appearance, their attitude, and in how they interact with other people.  It is illogical to believe that coaches, who spend a significant amount of time with their athletes, especially in an athletic capacity, are completely oblivious to steroid use among their players. 

Many coaches, knowingly or unknowingly, have been the catalyst in their players’ decisions to start using steroids.  The constant glorification of the biggest, fastest, and strongest athletes, along with the insatiable desire to win, often compel less physically gifted athletes to turn to drugs that they feel will give them what genetics didn’t.

I’m not suggesting that all or even most coaches encourage their athletes to use steroids.  I’d like to believe that men and women who have chosen to teach and inspire children are more responsible than that.  But in reality, a coach’s livelihood depends on success.  Success depends, in part, on having the biggest, fastest, and strongest athletes.  Perhaps some education for coaches on the dangers of steroid use is in order. 

Also not blameless in the issue of steroids are the parents of high school athletes.  If your son is injecting himself with any substance, much less steroids, and you don’t know about it, there’s more than one problem that needs to be fixed.

Forget about the UIL and the Texas state legislature and their consequences for athletes who test positive.  If the people who hold the most immediate influence over today’s high school athletes can’t get them to stop using steroids, my guess is that the threat of testing won’t do much good either, especially when the results are so easily refutable and there are lawyers ready to pounce on the UIL and individual school districts for punishing a kid who might have been improperly tested. 

So, it seems, we are back at square one … depending on coaches and parents to do their jobs in ensuring the safety and well-being of today’s athletes.

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