1st Place Volleyball July 2010 : Page 13
• They can get the “toned” look in tablet form! Take some pills, then see the re-sults. • They are looking for an “easy fi x.” • Some are considered “supplements,” and kids view them as they view vitamins or “energy drinks.” • They look for that extra “edge” that some kids feel they need to compete in sports (at the high school, collegiate, and pro-fessional levels). They seek out a way to compete with other kids that are stronger, have a higher vertical leap, or have that extra competitive edge. Many feel that the pressure to get bigger, better and stronger is a reason to search out quick fi xes. • The constant pressure to look good comes from all aspects of society, from the top athletes to models from their Cosmo magazines, to magazine covers at every corner. The pressures are real and coming from ev-ery angle Some college volleyball players report that they have received indirect and direct pressure to use performance enhancing drugs from fam-ily, friends, teammates, and even their strength trainers and head coaches! The scary results: • If teenagers take these during puberty, they can permanently stunt their growth. • Steroids can lead to infertility and can throw hormonal and adrenal cycles into turmoil. • They can lead to other dangerous body image issues like anorexia and other eat-ing disorders. • Abuse can cause deformities of the skull, facial bones, as well as cause severe dam-age to the heart and other organs. • They are used to lose weight, to tone, to shape. However, they can lead to seizures, strokes, heart attack and death. • Perhaps the most dangerous effect is “coming down.” The psychological effects include aggression, hostility, paranoia and even delusions or hallucinations. The range of emotions also includes sadness, hopelessness and depression. It has led to suicides. • Other effects include irregular menstrual cycles, jaundice, aching joints and mus-cles, mood swings, trembling, other injec-tion related infections, as well as a host of other items. Using steroids is cheating and it is preva-lent at the highest level of sports! The more alarming trend is that some young female athletes are taking it for a variety of rea-sons and believe “it is no big deal!” The Solution This is a CALL TO ACTION. As teenage ath-letes, it is important to be aware of this issue. You need to start with a grass roots effort! You can get the message out to your personal families, to your volleyball families, to your high school and college families, and eventually reach many others with the message. It begins with you! Here are some messages that you, as an athlete, must begin to communicate: • You need to attack it one player at a time – one team at a time. Start a dialog. • Spread the word to your friends and team-mates that “no” is not a viable option. You need to support each other to make the right decisions. As young athletes, you need to have a vision, a mission and a set of goals to work toward. These concepts are needed now more than ever to devel-op the mind, the body, and the spirit. • You need to instill in yourself and your friends the value of clean, wholesome liv-ing. Learn to respect yourself and focus on reaching your goals. It’s cool to work hard! If you want that toned body, they you achieve the results on your own – without cheating. The bottom line is that if you don’t develop the tools as a young athlete and don’t know how to approach life’s decisions, the consequences could be great. ■ Debbie Schmidt is the parent of a NCAA Division I athlete, a professor of accounting and fi nance, works with TCA Volleyball and is also a concerned parent. For more information on goal-setting strategies, as well as interviews with some of the sport’s greatest athletes, visit www.blueprintofachampion.com . July 2010 | Phenom 13
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