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Screening for performance-enhancing drugs not so much an issue at UTA

Written by Cory Armstrong, Contributor to The Shorthorn

Wednesday, 04 March 2009 06:48 PM

Steroid use in baseball has shaken the foundation of professional sports. Testing is now mandatory in nearly every level of competition, and UTA is no exception.

UTA athletes are subject to testing from the university and the NCAA.

“[It’s] a three strikes you’re out type of policy,” said Roy Rudewick, UTA’s head athletic trainer.

Steroid use is the elephant in the room In baseball, but it don’t concern Rudewick.

“Recreational drug use — cocaine, marijuana, you know, on and on and on — that’s a bigger problem than steroids,” he said.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a 2008 study asked high school seniors about their drug use over the previous year. Only about 1.5 percent had used steroids but more than 30 percent had used marijuana.

Out of the 16,000 students surveyed: 192 admitted to steroid use, and 4,800 admitted to marijuana use.

“When we set this up, we could select different panels and drugs that we tested for,” Rudewick said. “The one we selected was the one we thought we would have. You know, your cocaine use is not going to be as high as marijuana. So we picked marijuana.”

The NCAA tests UTA athletes once a year. It gets a squad list from the university and then randomly selects whom to test from that list. The first offense draws a one-year suspension from all NCAA athletics. The second offense is another one-year suspension.

UTA also has its own testing policy. Rudewick said once a month, athletes are randomly selected for testing — an individual would get tested six times during the school year. UTA’s drug testing focuses on street drugs, like marijuana, but performance-enhancing drug tests can be included. The NCAA tests for both, including many other substances UTA does not target.

At UTA, the first offense results in a warning. Only the athlete and those performing the test are aware of the results. The second offense is a minimum two-week suspension, but this penalty varies. The athlete’s coaching staff, parents or spouse and the athletic director are informed of the failed drug test. A third offense ends the athlete’s season, and scholarships can be revoked. This is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Rudewick said athletes sometimes test positive for a performance-enhancing drug but don’t know about it.

“Right now we just got a list notification that vitamin water contains some banned substances last week,” he said. “We notified our athletes ‘if you’re drinking vitamin water, you need to let us know because there’s certain flavors that have the banned substance in it.’ ”

While some may think that baseball’s steroid controversy encourages young athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs, Rudewick disagrees.

“I think it’s more of a discouragement because you’re seeing athletes’ really. Their names are tarnished now,” Rudewick said. “I mean, A-Rod’s been drug through the mud. Athletes got to go ‘Wow, is it really worth it to me?’ ”

Kristina Grace, a junior center on the UTA women’s basketball team, said the university need not worry about its athletes abusing drugs.

“I think in some sports more than others, but at UTA it’s not a problem,” she said.

Grace has never been through the drug-testing process but knows many who have.

“It’s just a little uncomfortable,” she said. “They have to because some will cheat. That’s why they’re so strict.”

Athletics director Pete Carlon, who served on the NCAA subcommittee for drug education and testing from 1998 to 2004, wrote the university’s drug policy in 1986. He’s not concerned about steroid use at UTA either.

“We have only had one positive test since 1986,” he said.

Carlon witnessed steroid abuse at UTA when the university still had a football team.

“It was more of a fad at one time,” he said. “It wasn’t illegal, first of all.”

Students are making better choices now, mostly because they are aware of the health risks involved, he said. There was a time when students were not as educated on the harm steroids could have on the body.

Before their first practice, UTA athletes are required to participate in a team orientation designed to help with this education. Besides education, the testing itself discourages abuse.

“I definitely believe drug testing is a deterrent,” Carlon said. “I’m very confident we don’t have a performance-enhancing issue here.”

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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 03:06 PM )

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