Topic: News: Statewide FL Steroid Testing for High School Athletes

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Steroid penalties, appeals firmed up
Athletes who want to appeal a positive test from the state's pilot steroids testing program may have to help foot the bill.
By Joe Smith

Athletes who want to appeal a positive test from the state's pilot steroids testing program may have to help foot the bill.

The ramifications of House Bill 461, which will randomly test 1 percent of athletes in football, baseball and weightlifting, were discussed Monday with the selected testing agency, National Center for Drug Free Sport.

Details of the program will be ironed out by the end of the month, but the penalties and appeals process have been tentatively agreed upon.

Athletes with positive tests will be suspended from practice and competition in all sports for 90 days, which begins the day the school is notified. There will be an exit test after the 60th school day, which if negative, will reinstate the athlete immediately. If not, the suspension sticks.

Athletes testing positive have two appeal opportunities. They can appeal the suspension with Florida High School Athletic Association commissioner John Stewart or if necessary the board of directors. Or athletes can appeal the finding and have their "B" sample tested.

If negative, suspension ceases and the FHSAA pays for the test. If positive, the athlete remains suspended, with the undetermined fee for the "B" sample test falling on the athlete's family or school.

One reason is funding. The FHSAA's state-appropriated budget of $100,000 will enable around 570 athletes to be tested, at a yet-to-be-decided price estimated at $175, FHSAA assistant communications director Robert Hernberger said.

According to participation figures gathered by the FHSAA, 214,274 athletes played high school sports 58,913 in the three sports targeted for testing in the 2005-06 season, though that does not take into consideration athletes who played more than one sport.

Students in grades 9-12 will be randomly selected, likely by computer, Hernberger said. That means, in football, anyone from a backup JV running back to star quarterback could be picked. Tests will be done on campus and sent to a lab in Los Angeles, with results coming anywhere from 10 days to two weeks.

Those with positive tests won't retroactively be deemed ineligible, meaning games they played in would not be forfeited, Hernberger said.

Last week, the FHSAA announced flag football and softball will be tested because they are compatible with the male sports written in the bill. But Hernberger said Wednesday it's still "up in the air" whether those sports will be included.

"We have the responsibility to at least bring up the gender equity point for discussion," Hernberger said. "If Rep. (Marcelo) Llorente or the attorney general don't feel like that it's necessary to proceed with those and wants to pull back and concentrate on (football, baseball and weightlifting), at least we brought it up."

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

FHSAA reports how it will implement steroid testing plan

The Florida High School Athletic Association released how it will implement its steroid testing plan on Wednesday.

On the FHSAA site are a list of frequently asked questions regarding the 2007-08 FHSAA Anabolic Steroids Testing Program, including the selection procedure, testing procedure, penalties and appeals process, is available as a PDF for download (this PDF is attached to this post as well). Also available for download is the school and student-athlete/parent consent forms.

The site also has testing roster templates available for download in the six sports student-athletes may be tested for: Football (due Aug. 22), girls weightlifting (due Nov. 28), softball (due Jan. 30, 2008), baseball (due Feb. 6, 2008), boys weightlifting (due Feb. 20, 2008) and flag football (due March 5, 2008).

Schools are requested to list the last name, first name and grade level of every student-athlete in their respective school in grades 9-12 that participate (practice and/or competition) in each of these sports. They then should send completed files as an e-mail attachment to testingrosters@fhsaa.org.

Each member school must submit a roster for each of these sports in order to comply with Florida Statute 1006.20(10).

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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So Far No Positive Steroid Tests

We're two months into the school year, and Florida High School Student athletes are still in the clear when it comes to steroid testing. Florida's High School Athletic Association started its random steroid testing on athletes in addition to drug testing earlier this month, and so far no one has tested positive. Approximately 1 percent of all student-athletes in baseball, girls flag football, boys tackle football, girls softball and girls & boys weightlifting are subject to testing. According to FHSAA spokesperson Robert Hernberger . this one year pilot program is an initiative from the florida state legislature in which they were alloted one hundred thousand dollars to work closely with nationwide agencies. Gainesville high school's football head coach Edy Moore does not think steroid use is a problem among his gainesville athletes but believes FHSAA's concern with steroid testing is a positive thing. If a student does test positive he will be suspended from practice and competition for 90 school days upon schools receiving notice of positive testing.

[Markus Demeglio]

"Maybe if a few people get caught, then it will stop."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight because history shows that that is exactly what happens 

Sometimes these leaps in logic are baffling.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Markus,

You are mistaken in quoting me as saying that. That quote was from the article I posted.

[Markus Demeglio]

Markus,

You are mistaken in quoting me as saying that. That quote was from the article I posted.

No I understand, thats why I wasnt referring to you or quoted your name in the the quote. I think that view from the author is lacking rationality and pragmatism.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Florida school steroid testing ends over money
By SARAH LARIMER

MIAMI — Maybe Florida's pilot steroid testing program scared high school athletes away from performance-enhancing drugs. Or maybe performance-enhancing drugs were never a major issue in the state's schools.

Whatever the case, the testing program has been killed, at least for now, but not just because it found only one steroid user among 600 teens tested. State officials said that in the tough economy, they can't justify spending the $100,000. Tests were randomly administered at 53 schools, at a cost of $166 apiece.

"We completely understand," said Cristina Alvarez, spokeswoman for the Florida High School Athletic Association. "We know that money has to go to certain things right now to help the entire state, not just one association."

The decision came not long before baseball star Alex Rodriguez, a Miami high school legend, admitted using steroids during his Major League career. It leaves just three states - New Jersey, Illinois and Texas - testing high school athletes for steroids.

There had been talk in various statehouses about implementing similar testing programs, but that has died down, said Frank Uryasz, president of the National Center for Drug Free Sport.

"We seem to be at a standstill right now," said Uryasz, whose company administered the tests with Florida officials. "I'm guessing that may be economically related."

A 12-page report on the Florida pilot released in the fall noted that most school officials involved in the testing would be willing to resume the program. Fewer than 5 percent said they would not be willing to keep testing students.

Some school districts have turned to federal grant money to test their student athletes for some illegal drugs, but that money doesn't cover steroid testing. Joe Kemper, Collier County's coordinator of student drug testing and interscholastic athletics, said at least one of his district's board members wants testing for preformance-enhancing drugs, but that's probably not affordable.

"In this economy, I think a school district's priority is going to be in the classrooms and some of these other programs are going to have to be put on the back burner," Kemper said.

If the state's pilot program resumes, Kemper said he'd like to see it better-funded and expanded to more schools. He said no athletes in his southwest county were tested.

One student who was tested was O'Brian Abner, a football player at Orange Park High School. His teammates were also tested.

"We thought it was something good, because some people try to cheat their way into having good performances on the field," said Abner, a left guard for the Raiders.

Abner said he was not surprised that just one person tested positive statewide because student-athletes were warned about the program and it may have caused some to think twice.

"It probably stopped some kids from taking that," he said. "Because they felt like that might get caught sooner or later. I think it was really good, and I think it should keep going every year."

But some think the program was a waste of money. Fort Walton Beach athletic director Mike Owens, whose football team was tested, said it focused on a nonexistent problem - at least at his school.

"Not in my area," Owens said. "You've got some schools that are continually breaking records year after year in weightlifting, I think you have to start looking at that. Kind of like the guys hitting home runs."

If money is found to resume the program, it could be easier to implement, Uryasz said.

"We've moved along the learning curve," he said. "People are much more accepting of it."