Your Steroid Resource

While the topic of steroid use is framed towards men and boys, mainly due to the number of baseball and football players as well as those who have admitted use in the professional wrestling field, it is an issue of concern for girls, too.

“Procter and Gamble recently did a nation-wide survey and 500,000 students admitted using steroids,” I Play Clean founder and Bears’ Hall of Fame Linebacker Dick Butkus pointed out. “Of those kids, about one-third of the users are girls. These are all numbers we are trying to reduce.”

Morris softball coach Amy Barr was at one time involved in drug-testing education, testing and appeals at the national level as the President of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee while in college at Eastern Illinois University. She feels that girls are likely just as prone to using performance-enhancing drugs as boys.

“Girls take steroids for any number of reasons, just like boys — to get stronger, so they can be more competitive in their sport and to lose weight faster,” Barr said. “They might take nutritional supplements because they think it will make them healthier, too. A high percentage of female athletes suffer from eating disorders, so they could take different things they believe might curb their appetites … things to help them stay up late and have lots of energy.”

In recent years, the number of high-profile cases of athletes being outed for taking anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs are decidedly one-sided against the males. However, Barr was quick to point out one of the higher profile cases in recent years.

“Marion Jones is a perfect example. Girls are just as competitive as boys, therefore, some female athletes will make the decision to use steroids,” she said. “Depending on the sport, most female athletes are not looking for excessive muscle mass, so we are going to see them taking steroids that help their muscles recover faster.”

Though steroid use amongst females may not seem to be the bigger issue, according to Barr, maybe those who are taking the lead on this steroids issue need to consider expanding it to other supplements.

“Dietary supplements and weight loss drugs are not heavily regulated by the FDA. And most female athletes, especially younger athletes don’t understand this,” she said. “They see them advertised on T.V. by celebrities and believe it’s okay to take them, or if they take them they are going to look the celebrity. In reality, they don’t know what the are actually taking because the labels on the boxes might not even be right.”