Sports Essay, Research Paper

The Importance of Drug Testing in Collegiate Sports

Sports have existed in our universe since the beginning of the human race. The spirit of competition has inspired many work forces to force their organic structures to the extreme bounds in an attempt to stand out to the highest possible degrees for their several athleticss. This huge desire for athletic flawlessness has driven some jocks to seek an unjust border over their competition. This advantage comes in the manner of illegal public presentation heightening drugs. The subject of steroids and similar drugs has been really popular in the intelligence media in the past decennary. We have witnessed many heroes stripped of their pride after a drug trial rendered them ineligible to vie. The National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) has been forced to fasten the regulations regulating drug usage among its jocks. These ordinances do non halt at simply criminalizing & # 8220 ; public presentation foils & # 8221 ; , but besides restrict the usage of narcotics such as marihuana. The NCAA has taken a positive base in an attempt to maintain college jocks from falling victim to the pestilence that many of our professional jocks have succumb to.

It is indispensable that the National Collegiate Athletic Association continue its first-class anti-doping run in order to free college athleticss of the recent roseola of drug usage amongst its jocks.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association presently employs Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis s ( IUPUI ) medical scientific discipline edifice to execute the majority of its piss based drug proving. This research lab besides handles the testing of urine samples for the United States Olympic Committee and the National Football League. The NCAA did non get down utilizing this specific site until after the Pan American Games of 1987 which were held in Indianapolis. This major collegiate regulating organic structure sends about 6,000 urine specimens to this location each twelvemonth. The medical centre screens these samples for any substance deemed to be illegal by the NCAA. These doping agents may include anything from anabolic steroids to marijuana or other narcotic substances. Frank Uryasz is the manager of athleticss scientific disciplines for the NCAA, and with this place comes the duty of supervising the disposal of drug testing. He feels as though the association with the medical centre at IUPUI is indispensable to the NCAA s drug proving run, It s a national resource when it comes to our national anti-doping attempts. Working with them has been a fantastic experience for us. ( Horgan, 1998, p. 1 ) .

The uranalysiss that are performed can be rather expensive. The trials can observe a sum of 180 different compounds from a mere half-ounce urine specimen. The cost nevertheless per process runs $ 120 for standard steroid showing and $ 180 for the full sensing of all illegal agents. The NCAA feels as though the benefits of drug proving far outweigh the disbursals incurred in order to subsidise these dearly-won processs. The lab in Indianapolis operates on an amazing $ 1.5 million one-year budget. The proving centre owns 10 gas chromatograph mass spectrometers ( GCMS ) , each coming with a monetary value ticket of $ 90,000. Larry Bowers, the manager of the research lab at IUPIU expresses that there is small net income involved in a concern like his. The equipment is really expensive and the fact of the affair is there is non a batch of money to be made in the concern. That s non a good lucifer. It s truly a hard country to acquire into. There aren T a batch of borders. ( Horgan, 1998, p. 2 )

In top degree sports there can be unsurmountable force per unit areas to utilize performance-enhancing drugs. Many studies have shown that the drug usage begins with the peculiar manager s encouragement. A premier illustration occurs in the path and field community. Since times and distances are mensurable nonsubjective sums, improved consequences will be noticed straight in an single jock s tonss. If a given jock uses & # 8220 ; performance-enhancers & # 8221 ; and drastically improves, than his rivals must besides utilize these illegal agencies of promotion in order to be competitory with the initial doper. This type of scenario is really noticeable in some athleticss. However, it has been shown that betterments in virtually every athletics can be made with & # 8220 ; performance-enhancers & # 8221 ; . They allow the jock to develop at a far higher degree of strength, therefore leting the jock to potentially go bigger, stronger, and faster. These physical additions can turn out to help any college jock in any athletics in which they may vie.

The NCAA is besides highly concerned with the usage of narcotics among its jocks. There have been frequent happenings in the intelligence media of college jocks under the influence

of illegal drugs acquiring into car accidents. The case that was most publicised occurred with a group of University of Michigan hoops participants who got into a terrible auto accident going place from a party in the early forenoon. The engagement of narcotics was shortly discovered to be involved with the incident. Robert Traylor, who is now playing professionally in the National Basketball Association, was about faced with a calling endangering hurt. Had he been more earnestly hurt, the University of Michigan s insurance supplier would hold been forced to blast out significant sums of money to cover his medical disbursals. This possible disbursal would turn out to be rather dry, as the money could better be invested in drug testing to forestall similar happenings. Since universities and colleges all across our state are puting 1000000s of dollars to back up the instruction of jocks in the signifier of scholarships, it is indispensable that they besides invest in the bar of narcotic use. The most effectual agencies of bar has been identified as the existent drug proving. Most jocks who have been found to hold wilfully exposed themselves to narcotics have chosen to utilize Marijuana. The chemical in Marijuana that gives the organic structure the consequence of being high is known as THC ( THC ) . This substance remains in the human system for a period normally between two and three months. This factor makes it rather simple to observe the usage of Marijuana among jocks by the simple uranalysis. Other more powerful drugs can be detected by the trial, but have gratefully been found unpopular among today s college jocks.

It is likely the end of many college jocks to stand out to the degree of professional sports. This puts professional jocks in the place of being function theoretical accounts for their collegiate opposite numbers. All of today s American professional athleticss conferences have developed some grade of an anti-doping run. It seems nevertheless that this attempt is aimed at extinguishing the usage of narcotics as opposed to the usage of performance-enhancing chemicals. Androstenedione is basically a man-made steroid that is wholly legal for participants to consume in Major League Baseball. Baseball s first current home-run batter, Mark McGwire was a enormous protagonist of the drug until he late terminated his usage of the substance because of the contention it was making. The NCAA, with its decidedly rigorous limitations, banned Andro every bit shortly as it became available for retail. This did non about extinguish the usage of Androstenedione among college jocks, as the substance is cleared from the system within a month of expiration. Here at Tusculum College, there are tonss of jocks who reported the use of Andro during the summer. This is rather distressing, as the usage of performance-enhancers makes college s athletic playing field & # 8220 ; unlevel & # 8221 ; . As already stressed, when jocks of a given athletics Begin utilizing a substance like Andro, there is much force per unit area for other jocks involved in the same competitions to utilize the drug. The feeling that an jock will be unable to vie with the dopers unless they besides dope can be rather powerful. Drug usage must be eliminated wholly among college athleticss in order to keep a degree of pureness in sports. The NCAA has taken positive stairss toward straight carry throughing the latter.

Science is invariably progressing therefore leting for a changeless addition in the figure of performance-enhancing drugs for jocks. This is a sad fact, but must be recognized in order to keep the unity of athleticss. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has done a applaudable occupation with its advancement in the field of drug testing. A premier factor for the chase of sports is to better one s degree of personal wellness, the usage of drugs to the full contradicts this point. . It is indispensable that college jocks are tested for both performance-enhancing drugs and illegal narcotics in an attempt to continue the development of collegial degree athleticss.

Mentions

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The Law. New York: Human Kinetics Publishers.

Stotemayor, J. ( 1999, August 9 ) . Pan American Games. New York Times. Page D6,

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Mckinley Jr. , J. ( 1999, August 31 ) . Track star s load: proving artlessness. New York

Timess. Page C24.

Horgan, S. ( 1998, October 7 ) . Indianapolis University lab performs drug proving for

jocks. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. [ Online ] . Available:

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