Steroid tests for students? They could happen next year

The high school football teams vying for state championships next fall may be the first ever tested for steroids in Illinois.

IHSA officials say they expect a final decision as soon as next month on whether to begin steroid testing, with the first such tests likely administered during state playoffs in the 2008-09 season.

The move comes amid growing concern about the role of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in sports, punctuated by the recent Mitchell report that has cast a pall across professional baseball.

The Mitchell report cited national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics estimating that hundreds of thousands of teens -- between 3 percent and 6 percent of high school athletes -- use steroids.

Suburban coaches and athletic directors say it's nearly impossible to pinpoint precisely how many of their athletes use illegal drugs, particularly given the ubiquity of over-the-counter supplements.

"Is it a major problem here? I don't think so. But I don't know for sure because, like most high schools, we don't test," Wheaton Warrenville South athletic director Robert Quinn said. "Is it a major concern? Absolutely."

Bartlett High School athletic director Dan Kallenbach said his schools have "never really had an athlete come back after a couple of months and look like they've gone through that.

"But do I know for sure? No. Kids can get so many things over the counter, so who knows?"

Coaches who are unaffiliated with schools but train local athletes say steroid abuse is more rampant than most school officials admit. And, they say, suburban students are the most likely abusers.

"It's a big problem, particularly in the Northwest suburbs," said Marc Brignola, executive director of The Sports Academy in Buffalo Grove, where about 225 young athletes train during the off-season.

Brignola estimated that 25 percent of the high school athletes he knows -- mostly football players and wrestlers -- use or have used steroids.

"These kids, they've got the dollars available to them and the connections," Brignola said. "The problem is that need to excel and not disappoint their friends or parents."

In addition to the IHSA, state lawmakers are expected to renew focus on the issue in coming months. On Wednesday the Illinois State Crime Commission offered its support to a suburban lawmaker's proposal that would set up guidelines for voluntary testing and ban athletes from sports for positive tests or refusing to test. To date, legislative proposals aimed at high school steroid testing have gone nowhere in the General Assembly.

The IHSA, however, is not a state government entity and therefore can move forward on its own.

The organization is polling members and expects a board vote in either January or February on whether to proceed with initial testing.

Suburban high school officials were divided about the value of a mandatory testing program.

"I'm not a proponent," Stevenson athletic director John Martin said. "I'm real skeptical of the validity of the tests. The most sophisticated testing system is the Olympics, and even they don't catch everybody."

Martin said society has abdicated too much responsibility for raising kids to schools.

"We're already trying to deal with alcohol and drugs, and parents fight us left and right when their kids get caught at a party," Martin said. "I've got five kids. If I have a question, I'll drug-test my kid."

He also questioned why the IHSA is focusing exclusively on steroids when so many more students abuse marijuana and alcohol.

"When you're talking about steroids, the physical manifestations are so obvious," Martin said. "I think we have kids who dabble, but I can't imagine we've got real serious abusers because you can't hide it at this age."

If the IHSA proceeds, Illinois would become one of a select few states to conduct steroid testing in high schools.

New Jersey instituted steroid testing for high school athletes in 2006, becoming the first state to do so, according to a recent Stateline.org review. Both Texas and Florida passed similar requirements this year, with Texas investing nearly $3 million to ensure 3 percent of the state's more than 740,000 student-athletes are tested.

Kurt Gibson, IHSA assistant executive director, said a steroid test costs about $200 and an initial test run could be done for $100,000. He said the IHSA does not expect costs to be passed on to schools.

An initial Illinois drug-testing program would work like this:

Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, the IHSA would identify select sports for testing and then conduct a set number of random tests during the playoffs.

"Logically, we'd test in sports and activities where we've seen problems nationally," Gibson said. "So we're more apt to test in football and track than badminton and scholastic bowl."

Random athletes would be tested after games and schools would be notified beforehand that testers need access to players. Steroid tests involve urine samples.

Players and parents would be required to sign consent forms as part of participation in the sport.

But Gibson said many questions remain if testing is required. The biggest: what to do with teams whose players test positive, especially since results often take up to two weeks.

"If we test during the semifinal round and someone's positive and we find out after the championship, what are we going to do toward the school?" Gibson said.

Quinn, of Wheaton Warrenville, said he'd support the programs -- so long as the kinks are worked out.

"I'm absolutely in favor of working to create high school athletics that are free of steroids," he said. "I just want to make sure it's done the right way."