Everybody is still waiting for the results of the university wide steroid testing initiated by the University of Waterloo and the CIS or Canadian InterUniversity Sports. Other neighboring universities were also subjected to random steroid testing. The aim is to find out the extent of steroid use in college football but even if the result is not yet made public, a football player already admits that there could be rampant doping in their sport.

The involvement of the regulatory bodies such as the CIS and the Canada Center for Ethics and Sports is a sign that the problem of taking performance enhancers particularly in football is a serious problem already. It all started when Nathan Zettler of Waterloo Warriors and two other football players were arrested by the police for trafficking of anabolic steroids and other related charges.

When the entire University of Waterloo football team was required to have their players tested for anabolic steroids, one player made an uncommon act of telling his coach that steroid testing is not needed anymore because he already confessed taking one. Defensive lineman Joe Surgenor told his coach that he’s on steroids. Surgenor said that he was taking Winstrol, an anabolic steroids used to develop lean muscles.

He shared his story to the public because he wants to warn other athletes that the risk of using steroids is not worthy. Second, he believes that the incident in Waterloo could be also happening across the country. In the interview of the Globe and Mail, Surgenor said that it doesn’t feel good to be one of those identified using PED’s. He also revealed that there are other players who made similar steroid confession to avoid the doping test.

Moreover, Surgenor’s statement to the Globe and Mail could be the actual picture of college football in Canada. “To be perfectly honest, anyone who doesn’t think there are seven to 13 players on every team [using performance-enhancing drugs] in the CIS, you’re kidding yourself. There’s at least that number. I don’t think the CIS really wants to find out what’s going on. They don’t want to know the answer [to how many athletes are taking steroids],” Surgenor said.

The defensive lineman of Waterloo Warriors said that some of the players knew that there are steroid users in the team. However, they have denied that Zettler had supplied them with the drugs. “As far as I know, he wasn’t trying to sell to anyone on the team,” he said. Surgenor took the risk of taking anabolic steroids because his previous training regimen did not work. He even spent a few hundreds of dollar for a personal trainer. “I was taking Winstrol, which is essentially a fat cutter. I wanted to be leaner and stronger and I kept it quiet. It’s really unfortunate the prestige of the Waterloo name has been tainted by our actions. I’d like everyone to know it’s just not worth it,” Surgenor added.

The head of the CIS, Marg McGregor said that they are not treating the Waterloo incident as an isolated case. “We’re working with our other partners, such as the CFL, to have more deterrents in place,” she said. This time, they will be more rigid in implementing the anti-doping policies by testing athletes more often and any time. “We’re going to do a complete review of our educational programs. We’re committed to protecting the rights of athletes who compete cleanly,” McGregor added. Just recently, the CFL also announced that they already drafted a new steroid policy which is still subject to deliberation in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Surgenor was already sanctioned by the CIS and suspended for 2 years from the sport.

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