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The Guilfordian

The student news site of Guilford College

The Guilfordian

The student news site of Guilford College

The Guilfordian

Athletes learn about NCAA Drug tests

In the year 2000 in Sydney, Australia, U.S. track runner Marion Jones became the first female athlete to win five medals at the Olympics. In October 2007, Jones forfeited her three gold and two bronze Olympic medals to the USOC after a scandal revealed that she used five different performance-enhancing drugs before competing. An NCAA college athlete has just as good a chance of being stripped of glory due to a positive drug test.

“If you are using performance-enhancing drugs and you are tested, it will show up,” said Kathy Schneidwind, a spokesperson for Drug Free Sport, a national organization that administers drug tests to athletes in the NCAA, the NFL and many other sports organizations. “The things you see on the Iinternet to help you pass the test will not work. We have ways of detecting if you are trying to cheat the system.”

Midday on Feb. 13, athletes gathered in Dana Auditorium to listen to a presentation from Schenidwind about the dangers and risks involved in taking performance-enhancing drugs. Schneidwind gave a PowerPoint presentation detailing what substances to avoid during athletic seasons.

Students learned that missing a scheduled test or tampering with the test would result in the test counting as positive. Banned substances include stimulants, anabolic steroids, diuretics, anti-estrogens, peptide hormones, and marijuana.

Schneidwind stressed that good diet and practice can benefit an athlete just as effectively as taking substances, without the consequences of using performance-enhancing drugs.

“Food is a cheaper and better way to get the nutritional benefit you are looking for,” Schneidwind said.

Many students found it helpful to learn that steroids and marijuana are not the only substances that put athletes at risk. Meanwhile, labels can be misleading and banned ingredients can hide under alternate names.

“A substance may be legal but still against NCAA policy,” said Schneidwind. “The best way to find out if you can use a supplement is to go to www.drugfreesport.com/rec. and type in the password NCAA3.”

Caffeine is just one of the legal substances that NCAA drug tests detect. Drinking three “energy” drinks, like Red Bull or Monster, before a test or a game is enough to show up positive for banned levels of caffeine.

“I didn’t know so much about energy drinks and some of the other things that can test as a positive drug test,” said Caryn Washington, a senior on the women’s lacrosse team.

Equally, if not more important than the punitive aspects of testing positive for drugs are the heightened health risks that athletes who use drugs and alcohol face.

“Athletes tend to do more binge drinking than others,” said Schneidwind. “Over 60% of male NCAA athletes have ten or more drinks in one sitting.”

Schneidwind explained that excessive drinking of alcohol causes depletion of vital nutrients, increase in fat store, and decreased reaction time, coordination, balance and strength. She warned that these symptoms, which apply directly to athletes, could appear days after heavy drinking. This puts athletes at a greater risk, not only with their performance on the field but also their health and safety.

Overall, students felt the presentation was informative, though a little dull.

“It probably didn’t affect (student athlete’s) decisions (in using drugs), but it helps to be informed on what they’re being tested for as far as drugs are concerned,” said Chris Walker, captain of the men’s cross-country team. “If you’re looking to take vitamins and things like that, it’s helpful so you know what to take and what not to take. A lot of times I take vitamins and being able to go to the trainer and say ‘will this get me in trouble?’ is kind of helpful.

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