The State of Florida spent $100,000 on a pilot program of 700 tests, catching 1 player. They pulled the plug in May.
Dad04 - I didn't realize they stopped it. That's good to know. With all the other tax issues going on in FL, the money could certainly be spent more effectively elsewhere. I know lots of folks will disagree, which is fine, and I did give consent because I had no choice if he wanted to play, but as a responsible, involved parent, I do not like the state randomly invading my minor child's privacy with no probable cause.
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I wonder how many kids didn't use them because they knew there would be testing?
Cheaters will always try to find a way to cheat. The way the FL system was set up, only about 1 in 100,000 athletes would get tested anyway. Odds are that they wouldn't get caught. The 1 in 700 is an indication to me that education on the negative effects of steroids, plus bad press for users, is working with or without a random testing program.
If we are going to single out athletes for random testing for steroids as a condition of participation, then let's go ahead and test the drama club and the band for THC.
If we are going to single out athletes for random testing for steroids as a condition of participation, then let's go ahead and test the drama club and the band for THC.
In Illinois, the IHSA has started random drug testing for the 2008-2009 school year during the postseason. If the kid and his/her parent does not sign the form, then that kid is ineligible for postseason competition. Band and drama club don't fall under the IHSA nor do they have a postseason.
I will be interested to see what happens with this. How many will they randomly test? How will it be conducted? etc. At this point, I am in favor of it.
"The Harder You Work, The Harder It is to Surrender"
Posts: 860 | Location: Waterloo, IL--Cape Girardeau, MO | Registered: February 05, 2006
Bull dog, We had maybe 2 guys on steroids in the early eighties on the football team and six or so that were weight lifters.
But if they would have tested for drugs or alcohol the school would have been empty. Makes me wonder what the priorities are in testing. Are they trying to keep the kids safe or are they just trying to give colleges and MLB the chance to really know if the kids they are getting can play? Is it safety or having a clean product(student athletes) to recruit or draft that is more important?
Looks like it is all about the money(again). I don't have the stats in front of me but I guarantee you that more teen deaths occur due to alcohol and drug use than steroids. The numbers are not even close. So why should our priorities be steroids?
Hustle never has a bad day.
Posts: 461 | Location: Phoenix AZ | Registered: May 02, 2007
Band and drama club don't fall under the IHSA nor do they have a postseason
I understand that. They don't fall under the FHSAA rules either. I didn't make my point very well.
As an adult, I worked at a place where I needed a security clearance, and we were randomly tested as a condition of employment. I have no problem at all with that. It was a good job and worth the once or twice yearly mild embarrassment. I have no problem at all with adults making the choice to take a job (including professional baseball) that requires them to pee in a cup in front of someone.
I do mind my 14-year-old baseball player - oops - 15 today - having to do the same randomly and with no probable cause only because he is a high school athlete. He has told me that he knows of no one doing steroids, but he has classmates involved in extracurricular activities who smoke pot and drink alcohol. Those seem to be the drugs of choice at his school. They are not necessarily performance enhancing, but they are still dangerous and illegal for kids. Yet he is the one who was subject to random invasions of privacy. Right click on the pic. Does he look like he's using steroids? No probable cause here.
I think the money and effort going into these random testing programs could be put to much better, much more effective use in other ways. I don't pretend to have the answer, but random testing of minors bothers me. Not enough for me to keep him from playing, but it does seem like a slippery slope.
But if they would have tested for drugs or alcohol the school would have been empty. Makes me wonder what the priorities are in testing. Are they trying to keep the kids safe or are they just trying to give colleges and MLB the chance to really know if the kids they are getting can play? Is it safety or having a clean product(student athletes) to recruit or draft that is more important?
Looks like it is all about the money(again). I don't have the stats in front of me but I guarantee you that more teen deaths occur due to alcohol and drug use than steroids. The numbers are not even close. So why should our priorities be steroids?
I wish I had answers. I don't know what they're priorities are. From my standpoint, it's all about health and safety of the students.
Do I think there are athletes at my high school who have used steroids or currently do? Yes, most likely.
Also, I don't have specifics on how the drug testing will be done and what they are testing for.
I understand drugs and alcohol kill far more than steroids. And I'd love to find a way to stop it. One way to help is to find a way to get adults to willingly provide to the students.
We have a major alcohol problem in our high school. I know of at least 5 teammates off the top of my head who were suspended due to alcohol. I know of at least 3 who were kicked off the team for it.
Illegal drugs are a major issue. There are steroids that can have the same effects as other drugs. They're all dangerous and kids need to stay away from all of it!
"The Harder You Work, The Harder It is to Surrender"
Posts: 860 | Location: Waterloo, IL--Cape Girardeau, MO | Registered: February 05, 2006
Also, I don't have specifics on how the drug testing will be done and what they are testing for.
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There is a very long list of things they are testing for. Everything from amphetamines to caffeine 1, to ephedra and androstendione. Everything they are testing for is on the back of the sheet that must be signed to compete. As for the logistics of the testing, I don't think it will work out. My understanding on what will happen (this is hearsay so should in no way be taken as official) is that kids will be tested randomly prior to postseason play. The results will take a while to come back. What if a player tests positive, but plays 2 weeks into the football playoffs? Then what? Team is disqualified, player is disqualified for further events? I hope I am wrong about the amount of time to get the testing back.
On the whole I think it is a great idea and I do think the IHSA has it's heart in the right place, but I'm not sure the money and logistics of the testing will allow it to continue.
Make the routine play!
Posts: 110 | Location: Illinois | Registered: May 25, 2006
As my son prepares to head off to his freshmen year in college I am much more concerned that he may finally sucumb to the influence of others to try chewing tobacco then I am steroids.
Posts: 19 | Location: missouri | Registered: August 30, 2005
If the worse thing my son does in college is try a little dip I will be very happy. I have never seen a person killed by a dipping driver.
I would prefer he never use chewing tobacco. I hope he never does. But I will not lose any sleep over that one. Alcohol and drugs are everywhere in our society and there is alot of peer pressure especially in college.
It appears that kids could skip the test. If you were using and could just not show up, what would you do? Not to say that the 18 that didn't show are users but it doesn't look good. I also heard that the majority of the tests were done on "freshman" football players. Makes me wonder if that was on purpose, that they really don't want to know.
My football son was one of the 700 in Florida tested this year, and apparently he was one of the 699 who tested negative. I say apparently because among the numerous failures in the system, the actual results of the test have never been provided to me the parent.
The random selection of test takers began with a random selection of schools first, so some schools like my son's had approximatley 20 students tested, while other schools had none. If the numbers were similar in other schools where tests were administered, then no tests were administered in 95% of the schools.
These so called private tests were executed by calling all 20 of the players to a central location to administer the test, so right from the beginning his privacy was compromised, and in fact before he finished peeing in the bottle, the word was out on campus that he was being tested for steroids. While many on the campus and in the community understood this was a random test required by the State, I am sure just as many thought my son was being tested for cause and now are suspicious that he is or was a steroid user.
I am not entirely against steroid testing and in fact just last night authorized the testing of my baseball son who will be a freshman in college this year, but I do not believe it should be done for HS players by the government using scarce public dollars.
By the way if the State really wanted to catch players using steroids, I would suggest that rather than random tests they should have the Coach from Team A select the players from team B to be tested and the coach from Team B select the players from team A to be tested.
He was approached by a student 2x. Who gave different names both times. My son believed neither was a real name. We did notify the school but I don't know if anything ever came of it. My son has not been approached again.
Posts: 340 | Location: USA | Registered: February 03, 2007
