Steroid Test At High School Level A Much Needed Tool, By: Gregory Moore

May 29, 2007

SAN ANTONIO – On July 24, 2004, I wrote an op/ed for the Black athlete Sports Network entitled, “In Lieu Of The BALCO Case, Are High School Athletes Still Trying To Mimic The Pros?” (go to story at http://www.blackathlete.com/High_School/index.shtml) and I mentioned a young man by the name of Tyler Hooten. Hooten was a star baseball player in Plano, Texas but he was taking steroids and that ultimately ended his young life. His parents were distraught and the story was so compelling that it was on 60 Minutes II. Since that story and since my op/ed, I’ve been a very strong proponent of high schools in Texas testing their young athletes for steroids and I was even more diligent once the BALCO case emerged itself from the Bay Area and into our living rooms. So when it was announced by the University Interscholastic League and the state legislature that an approved steroid test for high school athletes was finally here, not only did I applaud the decision, I was especially glad to see that lawmakers understood the dynamics of the situation at hand.

Whether parents want to believe it or not, high school athletics is indeed big business; especially varsity football. Whether parents, students and/or faculty want to acknowledge this problem or not, steroid usage is indeed prevalent in this state just like in any other state in the country and kids will mimic their professional athlete heroes. That is why it is so important for professional athletes to realize that their actions do indeed have consequences. It is why former players like Mark McGwire realize that just because androstenedione was a legal supplement for ‘him’ to use when he was crushing Mickey Mantle’s homerun record, he had an obligation to not have it sitting in his locker when cameras were interviewing him. That is why current pro athletes today need to be careful what they say and what they use in their own workouts as again these younger athletes will run to the GNC store and try to score the EXACT same product that they see in a magazine or on television. And if a high school athlete is good enough to be an ‘elite’ player, he or she will undoubtedly be subjected to the products that are available ‘under the table’. Those products include steroids.

Parents who are thinking that this is singling out their athletes need to get a grip on the seriousness of this issue. If there was a procedure in place for the UIL in 2004, I firmly believe that Hooten family would have young Tyler with them and that we may be reading about him in our favorite sports magazine. Hooten was that good of a baseball player from what I have gathered and that young man could have been something special for the Plano area. So, from this perspective, every kid needs to be tested just so that there will be no tragedies like what the Hootens faced or the countless others that we may not even know about. What parents need to realize is that an athletic activity isn’t a right their student athlete has had bestowed upon them but a privilege that is granted by the school itself. If a steroid test is administered and that parent or student does not want to subject him or herself to it, then they need to realize the gravity of their decision and the consequences that will ensue. There is no gray area here and there shouldn’t be. Only the letter of the law needs to apply in this case so that everyone understands the seriousness of the situation and the importance of compliance by all involved.

So it is indeed a great honor to be a small foot soldier that has helped get this legislation to become a bill. Even though Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst may not have read any of my columns, I know from e-mails over the past two years that somebody has been reading them on this topic and that somehow somebody thought that it was a worthwhile issue to pursue. For me, as one lone journalistic voice, I don’t care who got this issue to become law, I’m just glad it became one. Across this country there are thousands of young men and women who are playing their selected sport without any incident of steroid use but there are those who will cheat. Those are the players who are bad for high school sports. If their parents support them in their use of illegal substances that enhance their abilities, then those parents are no good for the booster clubs either. Something had to be done and the Texas legislature has finally said it will.

Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and other state legislatures in this state and across the country should be applauded for wanting to make it safe for our children to play high school sports. Parents should be clapping and getting behind these men and women who have bucked a status quo system and decided to put the safety of ‘our future’ first and they left the partisan politics to a minimum. Other states have proposed similar laws and as great as this feat is today, much work is still needed to be accomplished for the future. There needs to be a national law that backs up the state’s law as well. Maybe one day soon the elected officials at the Capitol and at