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Steroid Testing /
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Random tests reveal little steroid use in high school sports
Random tests reveal little steroid use in high school sports, By: Bev McCarron
September 12, 2007
Only one out of 500 high school athletes screened last school year for steroids tested positive, according to results released this morning by the state school athletic association.
The last school year was the first year of the state's random steroid testing program. New Jersey was the first state in the nation to require students be screened for performance-enhancing drugs when their teams qualified for state playoffs.
Results by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association showed athletes were tested in 12 sports following championship games held during the fall, winter and spring seasons.
Students who come up positive lose their eligibility for a year; seniors who win individual championships or awards must forfeit them.
Bob Baly, assistant director for the NJSIAA, said the fact that only a single student was caught using steroids does not suggest it isn't a problem in youth sports in New Jersey. Rather, the threat of a test may have served to keep students from bulking up, he said.
"Our program, even though somebody has tested prositive, is not designed to...play 'gotcha,'" Baly said at the NJSIAA's executive committee meeting in Robbinsville this morning. "Our program is designed to deter student athletes from taking (performance-enhancing) substances."
At the NJSIAA executive committee meeting in Robbinsbille as he prsented the first round of testing.
The report on the program's first year, which is to be released during the NJSIAA executive committee meeting this morning, acknowledged some problems administering the tests. In many cases, the report said, teams had to wait hours for the process of obtaining urine samples from athletes to be completed.
Parents and athletes had complained during the season of players excited after winning a state championship being forced to linger for hours before they could join any team celebration. Conversely, athletes upset about losing could not quickly board their buses and depart.
One problem was that athletes who were dehydrated or over-hydrated had trouble providing urine samples. Another was inadequate facilities.
The report recommended testing take place at school prior to a scheduled game or tournament, instead of following playoffs. Baly said he wanted to examine the possibility of going to a school ahead of time and testing the students there.
New Jersey has 240,000 high school sports participants, 10,000 of whom reach state championship contests. Critics have questioned the effectiveness of testing just 500 of them.
Since New Jersey has adopted its random steroid testing policy, two other states have followed - Florida and Texas, and Illinois is considering one.
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