Despite budgetary constraints, Illinois will still continue testing student athletes for steroids. This is the decision of the IHSA Board of Directors after their meeting on Monday. The Illinois High Schools Association (IHSA) will join the two other states, New Jersey and Texas, in their crusade against steroid use in high schools.

IHSA executive director Marty Hickman commended the board for approving the continuance of the program even if it means additional financial burden for the association. “The IHSA funded the program during its first year and was prepared to do so again. Our board believes in this program and made it clear that they want it to continue. I commend them for that decision,” he told the media.

Budget Cuts for Steroid Testing

Although the aim of the steroid testing program is good, there are some people who oppose allocating large budget for the tests. This is not only the major concern of Illinois but the states of Texas and New Jersey as well. In Texas for example, the allocation for this year is way below the amount allocated during the initial implementation of the program.

Proponents are just lucky that they still got the support of the lawmakers. Others believe that the budget should be allocated to more important programs of the state.

Insignificant Results

The small number of athletes caught using banned substances is the main reason why support for steroid testing in high schools is waning. In the school year 2010-11, the IHSA only got 4 positives but the other two were cleared for doping. The percentage is too small as compared to surveys conducted by government agencies that the use of performance enhancing drugs in high schools is rampant.

During the three-year implementation of the steroid testing program in Illinois, only two high school athletes were sanctioned for using steroids. They already tested 1,758 student athletes. In New Jersey, at least 2,000 student-athletes were tested but they only got 1 steroid user. Texas, which is the biggest spender in finding cheating athletes, had at least 30 doping violators. But this is the result of more than 50,000 tests since 2008.

Support Mechanisms for Steroid Testing

The budget cuts resulted to revisions of their strategies in fighting steroid abuse in high schools. These states now include steroid education programs to support the steroid testing. Coaches are also given tougher responsibilities by teaching athletes on how to improve naturally and avoid the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Others decided to focus on specific field of sports where athletes are prone to the use of steroids. Athletes usually resort to PED’s in sports like football, baseball and track and field.

Steroid Testing is a Good Deterrent

The IHSA chief defended the small number of steroid positives in their schools. “Some people will look at the number of positive test results and conclude that the testing is not working,” he said. The aim of the testing program is not to test the entire population just to catch doping athletes. “But it is important to maintain perspective. The scope of our testing was never going to be large enough to catch every student who may be using performance-enhancing drugs.”

“The program was put into place to be a deterrent to help prevent students from using these harmful drugs, and we believe it is successfully serving that purpose,” Hickman added.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS