Football coaches in the high school level were quick to defend their student athletes on the steroid issues. Canadian universities were in the spotlight for the past few weeks because of the involvement of some college football players to the use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Police authorities even arrested a player for his alleged distribution of anabolic steroids and HGH. The most controversial issue is the decision of the University of Waterloo to suspend for a year the entire football team for the current season. The test results revealed that up to 9 players were involved in the use of steroids or admitted that they have taken banned substances.

Most high school football coaches are confident that they were able to institute programs which effectively safeguard their student from the use of performance enhancing substances. Other local school officials share the same opinion. Pat Daly, chairperson of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, said that they try to be proactive and warn student athletes about the dangers of using steroids. “I’m not naive enough to say it never happens, but I’m not aware of any instances,” Daly said. Another school official from Hamilton, Chris Newman said that there were suspicions that some of high school athletes were into steroids but none were proven. “There have been suspicions in previous years, unproven and unsubstantiated. On occasion when you see a star player, people point fingers but nothing that’s ever been proven, nothing that’s ever been substantiated,” Newman said.

Football coaches and school officials are hoping that the case of the University of Waterloo football team is just an isolated case and is not symptomatic. Coaches are focused on educating their athletes on how to become stronger, faster and bigger without the use of anabolic steroids. Although some coaches admitted that there were some players who were interested in taking supplements like protein powders and creatine. The body naturally produces creatine but when taken as a supplement, it can help enhance muscle growth. Proper training and education is still the best weapon of the local schools in combating the use of steroids.

There were already several cases where the use of steroids at a young age will result to side effects and severe complications. An example of this is the case of high school athlete Taylor Hooton who committed suicide due to depression. The depression was caused by his use of anabolic steroids. Other reported cases include heart problems which results to death. Experts also believe that using steroids at the time of rapid growth and development of the student will result to physical and emotional problems.

A personal approach in educating the youth on the dangers of drugs seems to be an effective deterrent. Coaches in the local level know that the temptation of using performance enhancer is there but with the proper education programs, they can be kept away from these drugs.

Some coaches can’t restrain themselves in commenting on the decision of the University of Waterloo. They believe that those football players who played clean should not be punished. “I think they made the worst decision possible. I feel for the kids that tested clean. I don’t understand the decision at all,” said Greg White, convener of WCSSAA. Former Warriors orthopedic surgeon Tony Chris also said during an interview that he was saddened by the decision. “Those kids, I’m really sad for. They are great, upstanding citizens that don’t deserve to have the rug pulled out from underneath them,” Chris said.

There is one good thing that could be considered as a positive result of the steroid issues in college football. It can be used as an example in educating the young athletes with regards to the use of performance enhancers. According to head coach Tony Chris of Resurrection Phoenix, he discussed the issue to his team and plans of talking about it again in their next camp.

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