For years now Americans have known of and have looked at the issue of steroid use by high school athletes. As a high school coach and weight training instructor, it has been difficult to imagine that this issue has trickled down from the professional level to the collegiate level and on to the high school level. Fifteen years ago, the idea of testing high school kids for steroid use would have been crazy.

In fact, for many people today it is still unthinkable to be drug testing these student-athletes. But because of what adults have done with sports, our teenagers now pay the price. We, as an American society, place too much emphasis on athletic prowess and bestow far too many accolades on those who excel in that arena. The idea of enhancing one's body through steroids is a direct result of that adoptive emphasis. For far too many youngsters, sports achievement is seen as the way to become someone special or of importance at school and in the community.

Additionally, in America we also place much emphasis on body image. The athletically sculpted body is considered a thing of beauty and power. We offer competitions for the most muscular of physiques, and body builders now cross gender lines. Steroids are a way to produce the body that so many admire. Is it any wonder that our student athletes are turning to performance enhancing drugs to create that body type?

Today we see performance enhancement drug-use as a male problem, and males do carry a higher rate of use. In a survey conducted by Diane L. Elliot, M.D., of the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, and her colleagues to assess anabolic steroid use, of the 7,544 female students in ninth through 12th-grades completing the survey, a total of 5.3 percent of the participants reported prior or ongoing steroid use. More than two-thirds of the teen girls surveyed reported trying to change their weight. However, those who used steroids were more likely to turn to extreme weight-loss techniques, including vomiting and laxative use.

Part of Elliot's survey results:

“Anabolic steroids are body-shaping agents and cause a loss in body fat and an increase in lean tissue; therefore, their association with unhealthy weight loss practices was not surprising. High-risk adolescent girls seem to have received less attention than adolescent boys, perhaps reflecting that their actions are less socially, albeit perhaps more personally, destructive. Anabolic steroid use is another marker for high-risk adolescent girls, and further study is needed to develop effective interventions for this population.”

So what are we to do? Like all other aspects in life, we teach our children. We fix our mistakes by teaching healthy competition, we teach positive body image and we teach life is more important than big muscles or a lean figure. After all, we are talking about student-athletes. It is our responsibility to protect our youth -even if it is from themselves.

Furthermore, we must educate ourselves on how to look for the signs of strange aggressive behavior, depression, self image and self destructive behavior. We must make a larger effort to work with our school's athletic directors and coaches to surround our student athletes with 360 degrees of emotional and moral support. Through the voices of such adult leaders, we can begin the changes needed.

While we once emphasized the motto “winning is everything,” we now have to push for educating our youth that a healthy lifestyle is more valuable than winning. As always, this fight will have to take place in our homes and schools by parents and adult mentors. Working together is what we do to beat this poison.

Nick Fedchenko is a football coach/weight lifting instructor for Skaneateles Central High School and a PACT board member.

Signs to look for in steroid or performance drug addiction

• (Males) quick weight gain with larger muscle mass

• (Females) quick change in body fat to lean muscle; fear of eating, worrying over body weight

• Aggressiveness, bad attitude, depression

• Jaundice / skin change

• Purple or red spots on the body

• Swelling of feet and lower legs

• Shaking or trembling

• Persistent body odors

• Severe acne breakouts with oily skin

Ways steroids or performance drugs can be delivered to the body

• Oral (pill form) most common

• Injectable oil-based (older form still used)

• Injectable water-based (most used to cheat testing)

• Patch or gel (time released through the body)

• Aerosol, propellant based preparation (breathed in with a puffer)

• Sublingual

• Homemade transdermal preparation (used more with teenaged users)

• Androgen-estrogen combination (female favorite to change body type)

• Counterfeit anabolic steroid (dangerous)

• Over the counter (prescription)