Biggest question won't be answered in NJSIAA steroids testing report

September 8, 2007

The summer of Barry Bonds is over, but here in New Jersey the steroid issue is just beginning to hit stride.

On Wednesday, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association will release a comprehensive report on the first year of its landmark steroid-testing program. The contents of that report are being closely guarded, but here's what they most likely will boil down to:

1. A surprisingly small number of athletes tested positive.

2. The process of testing athletes immediately after state tournament games proved to be cumbersome and needs tweaking.

This is window dressing to the big question, one that the report does not answer: Is this program an effective deterrent?

"We need to ask high school students, 'Did knowing that you might be tested act as a deterrent?' " said NJSIAA assistant director Bob Baly, who coordinates the program. "There are questionnaires that can be asked and we're definitely going to explore that, because that's really the purpose of our program. We're not looking to catch people. We're looking to deter people."

I asked the question to a handful of athletes over the past two weeks, and the answer was pretty consistent: It'll be a deterrent if somebody actually gets caught and suspended. None of the players I spoke with knew someone who had even been tested.

"I don't think anyone wants to be called out on using something they shouldn't have," said Westfield senior Ryan Brand, who plays football and baseball. "Everyone in high school wants to play, they want to do well for the team, but they don't want to jeopardize it by taking something they could be caught with."

Montgomery senior Chris Garcia, who plays football and basketball, said the preseason consent forms definitely caught everyone's attention, but and there's always a "but" here there's a difference between getting a teenager's attention and getting results.

"Everyone gets the sheet at the beginning of the year that tells them they can't do this, they can't do that, they could be randomly tested for steroids," Garcia said. "Regardless, everyone's going to do what they're going to do."

Governor Livingston senior Matt Fullowan, a captain on the football team, summed it up nicely: "Once something big comes up, it'll become a lot more important to people."

All things considered, year one of the testing program the first of its kind in the nation was a resounding success. The program was implemented quickly and without much added burden on the schools. (It involves just one consent form that can be downloaded off of the NJSIAA's Web site). Most importantly, it generated big-time buzz.

"We had every student-athlete sign the consent form," Baly said. "On that consent form was a list of banned substances. That in and of itself was an educational tool."

Baly said he received several hundred inquiries from parents and students about the banned substances, anecdotal evidence that folks were sitting up and paying attention. He also got phone calls from other state athletic associations that are looking to follow New Jersey's lead.

"We have now talked to Texas and Florida, who are implementing their own testing programs," he said. "We've been in touch with Illinois and West Virginia, who may adopt the program we have."

So far, so good. Now comes the hard part: sharpening the program's teeth. It's time to expand the number of athletes who are tested each season. The best way to deter high school students from taking steroids is to catch and punish people they know, because no one can sniff out an idle threat quite like teenagers.