LH Panther Mom
10-08-2007, 07:23 AM
Student-athletes will be selected randomly for tests
By Rick Cantu
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, October 08, 2007
Three days after champion sprinter Marion Jones admitted performance-enhancing drugs helped her win five medals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the University Interscholastic League said its random steroid testing program for high school athletes in Texas will begin in about three weeks.
"Realistically, we're looking at the end of October," UIL athletic director Charles Breithaupt said Sunday.
Breithaupt and UIL assistant athletic director Mark Cousins described it as "the largest steroid testing program in the world." Up to 25,000 public school athletes will be tested within the next two years.
Their comments came at the semiannual UIL Medical Advisory Committee meeting Sunday morning.
UIL officials said in August their goal was to have the Senate bill implemented before the end of football season. The final regular-season games are scheduled for Nov. 9.
The UIL has evaluated 14 bids from drug testing companies in order to implement the program. "Three or four" companies are still being evaluated, Breithaupt said.
Based on the parameters of the bill passed by the 80th Texas Legislature, students at about 400 schools will be tested during the 2007-08 school year.
The announcement was received warmly by a few Central Texas football coaches Sunday.
"The way sports are going right now, it's a great idea," LBJ coach Claude Mathis said. "For some of these kids, there's a lot of pressure to get a scholarship, to make it to the next level. Maybe they see (steroids) as a way of getting there."
Leander coach Steve Gideon said financing steroid testing has been an obstacle for several years. Legislative budget planners have set aside $6 million, which will allow the UIL to test between 20,000 to 25,000 of the state's estimated 740,000 student-athletes.
Those tested will come from a randomly selected pool of 30 percent of the state's 1,246 public high schools, making Texas' steroid-testing program the largest in the nation. If an athlete refuses to be tested, it will be ruled a positive test.
"I can't imagine a parent not wanting their child to be in a program that educates kids and to know they're being held accountable," Gideon said.
link (http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/highschool/10/08/1008preps.html)
By Rick Cantu
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, October 08, 2007
Three days after champion sprinter Marion Jones admitted performance-enhancing drugs helped her win five medals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the University Interscholastic League said its random steroid testing program for high school athletes in Texas will begin in about three weeks.
"Realistically, we're looking at the end of October," UIL athletic director Charles Breithaupt said Sunday.
Breithaupt and UIL assistant athletic director Mark Cousins described it as "the largest steroid testing program in the world." Up to 25,000 public school athletes will be tested within the next two years.
Their comments came at the semiannual UIL Medical Advisory Committee meeting Sunday morning.
UIL officials said in August their goal was to have the Senate bill implemented before the end of football season. The final regular-season games are scheduled for Nov. 9.
The UIL has evaluated 14 bids from drug testing companies in order to implement the program. "Three or four" companies are still being evaluated, Breithaupt said.
Based on the parameters of the bill passed by the 80th Texas Legislature, students at about 400 schools will be tested during the 2007-08 school year.
The announcement was received warmly by a few Central Texas football coaches Sunday.
"The way sports are going right now, it's a great idea," LBJ coach Claude Mathis said. "For some of these kids, there's a lot of pressure to get a scholarship, to make it to the next level. Maybe they see (steroids) as a way of getting there."
Leander coach Steve Gideon said financing steroid testing has been an obstacle for several years. Legislative budget planners have set aside $6 million, which will allow the UIL to test between 20,000 to 25,000 of the state's estimated 740,000 student-athletes.
Those tested will come from a randomly selected pool of 30 percent of the state's 1,246 public high schools, making Texas' steroid-testing program the largest in the nation. If an athlete refuses to be tested, it will be ruled a positive test.
"I can't imagine a parent not wanting their child to be in a program that educates kids and to know they're being held accountable," Gideon said.
link (http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/highschool/10/08/1008preps.html)