College Sports Vs. College Athletes

College athletes must make sure there body is performing as good as their mind wants to compete. All drugs should be banned in college due to it being a no brainer and they are banned for everyone. There is a controversial subject in which the extra list of “banned substances”, also known as performance enhancing drugs, are banned for college athletes, yet not for everyone of the student body. Every year more and more drugs get added to the list that college athletes can’t use or they will get tested and end up ruining their practice time, game time, and more importantly their career if they drink the wrong protein drink. Athletes should be able to drink whatever supplement they want and not have to be worried about a drug test. It isn’t fair to athletes in college when everyone else gets

Many people believe that drug use in professional athletics is not a serious problem, however it is more widespread and serious than people think. In professional athletics the use of drugs is looked upon as somewhat of a serious problem, but is also very discrete and low key. Every once in a while one might see a prominent figure in a certain sport being reprimanded for the use of some outlawed drug, however this is just one of the many who happened to get caught. Athletes today seem to find no moral problem with using performance-enhancing drugs, or in other words cheating. Also many of them feel that because they are "stars" there should be no repercussions for their illegal activity.

They’re many reasons why college athletes would take performance enhancers drugs during their college eligibility term. Being a college athlete myself, I can understand how people rationalize or persuade themselves in taking steroids. Most of the time athletes ego’s get in the way where they think they are unstoppable and that nothing can ever cause harm to them. They get in the mindset that the effects of steroids in the short-term with out way the consequences in the long term. Some college athletes also just to have a shot at playing the game professionally and the million dollars come from it can solve any problem. Some college athletes believe that there is no life outside the sport they play and there is no plan B for them. College athletes also use steroids as a way for them to try to prevent injuries and to push their bodies well passed the normal limits.

In recent years the number of athletes caught using drugs has increased dramatically. The use of a illegal or unprescribed drugs can cause serious problems and unfairness in many ways. Certain drugs can cause harm to the user and the people around the user, most student athletes do not even know what they are putting into their bodies. With all the risks many persons propose student athletes to be drug tested at random.

Famed writer Grantland Rice once wrote, “When the great scorer comes to mark against your name. He'll mark not won or lost but how you played the game” (World of quotes, 1). That buoyant attitude of selflessness and heart has slowly diminished throughout the course of time. Now, George Allen’s booming voice, former coach of the Washington Redskins, runs throughout head of America, “Only winners are truly alive. Winning is living. Every time you win, you’re reborn. When you lose, you die a little” (Harris, 67). It is with this frame of mind that athletes are pushed beyond the edge of reason. Although peer pressure and pressure from coaches are central reasons why one may use steroids, most users begin using in order to improve their self image or excel in sports. Ethics, integrity, and legality aside, some athletes will stop at nothing to attain “that extra edge”.

Do we really want student-athletes replacing hard work with steroids? That’s like cheating on a test. For instance, many have been abusing drugs in a way to make their performance on the court or field better. This is a practice athletes have been in for years to make them a better player or asset to the team. All who are participating in athletics should be guaranteed a safe and fair game instead of worrying about those taking a daily dose of drugs for their own pleasure. These actions they are taking are not only dangerous and unfair, but illegal. For those who do participate in the consumption of drugs, their should be a formidable punishment. Although some uninformed people might say drug testing is an unnecessary waste of time and money,

In many high schools around the country, student athletes are using drugs. “The percent of students that have drunk alcohol is 72.5% while the number of students who have used marijuana is 36.8%” (Report: Nearly Half of High School Students Using Drugs, Alcohol). The students believe that since they are athletes that they do not need to abide by the rules because they feel more superior and that the narcotic will not hurt or affect them. Implementing random drug tests for athletes will create a positive image and not hurt others or themselves. Schools need to have drug tests for student athletes because drugs effect relationships, using drugs have consequences, and lastly they have a major effect on the body.

“After committing to the University of Oklahoma as a ninth-grader, Kyle Hardrick took the court in 2009. It was a dream come true for Hardrick. An injury to his knee put his future and his scholarship on hold. When Hardrick tried to resume his career, he was unable to obtain a medical hardship waiver, something he needed to regain a year of college eligibility. His family was stuck with tuition bills since his scholarship was not renewed. With those bills unpaid, he was unable to get his academic transcripts from Oklahoma to transfer to another school” (For College Scholarship Athletes, Injury Can Spell Financial Disaster). As scholarships are renewed every year, stories like Hardrick’s emerge across the country but can be avoided if the student-athlete had compensation to fall back on.

Secondly, even when telling the students that the drug test is approaching, it does not decrease the usage of drugs. In those high schools that tested athletes, between the drug test surveys given to students by University of Michigan research investigators, there was roughly a 94 percent agreeance between the students at both of the schools that implement drug testing policies and those who do not, that they had been using drugs within the last year (Swanbrow). Furthermore, the test do not deter students from taking other drugs that will not show up on the test. The University of Michigan research investigators even surveyed experienced marijuana users and asked how the drug test would impact their usage of it and other drugs. The students essentially said that even when knowing the test was coming they were still going to take the drugs and still manage to pass the test by using others urine for example. The data from students surveyed from drug testing and non-drug testing schools stated that their usage of drugs was almost exactly the same, roughly a six percent difference between the two. Therefore, the drug testing programs

Do sport administrations know about performance enhanced drugs? These drugs affect athletes and the sport they’re playing tremendously. About the age of a middle school child compared to an adult can obtain these of drugs. These drugs are life threatening to athlete’s health. The use of performance enhancing drugs promotes that cheating is prohibited. It also provides a bad example for athletes to use. Research shows that these drugs have a negative effect to every sport. Performance enhancing drugs manipulate athletes emotionally and physically through their dangers, promoting cheating and providing bad role models.

Student-athletes should not be drug tested because it violates the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. “But providing this ‘alibi’ could pose other dimensions, such as revealing contraceptive use or private medical information” (Kowalski). Drug

There are good reasons to allow performance enhancement, to make sport fairer and to narrow the gap between the cheaters and the honest athletes. It would provide a better spectacle, be safer and less coercive” (Foddy) Therefore, with the legalization of PED’s not only would the playing field suddenly be even for all players, it would be at a higher level. Furthermore, athletes on the way up whose entourages don’t yet include savvy physiotherapists and doctors would be less likely to overdose and do themselves harm.

During the 2007-2008 school year, the university Interscholastic league in Texas began one of the largest high school drug testing programs in the country, conducting 10,117 tests that yielded just two positives (0.000198% positive test rate) and four unresolved cases that year. The author argues that drug testing of U.S. High school students for performance-enhancing substance misuse is invasive, expensive, and low number of positive test results do not justify the costs, especially in financially strapped school districts where this money would be better spent on injury prevention for athletes and the education of all students.

When people take drugs on sports teams it’s not so that they can win or so that they can better themselves, it’s so that they are better than everyone else. There are so many side effects when you take drugs for example, when you take drugs, you're not yourself, you can’t focus as much, you get tired and moody when you’re off the drug, and worst of all you’re probably going to get addicted. A study shows that “One major concern is whether or not performance-enhancing drugs pose a health risk. Horror stories of players going into “’roid rage” and suffering horrible, long-term side effects are well known….” Coaches need to drug test their team so that it can save the integrity of the game and save that person's life.

In the past few years the usage of performance enhancing drug and even illicit drugs used by athletes has increased dramatically. The idea of using drugs to gain an edge on your opponent has eventually found its way into high school sports. With the usage of drugs being brought into high school sports, mandatory drug testing should be supported by all schools across the country. High school students may take PED’s because they see athletes at the highest level of competitions using them and succeeding to a high extent at the highest college and professional sports levels, there are mandatory drug test taken by every individual player before the season is started. High school athletes are able to get away with using drugs during their sports season because there is no mandatory drug test that are taken. The drug test is a necessity to keep the playing field even and fair and also to keep the student athletes healthy. Mandatory drug test would be beneficial to the athletes.