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Performance-enhancing drugs; principals, coaches, alumni
Lascelve GRAHAM
Saturday, August 03, 2013
LIKE most people, I was disappointed by the recent positive tests for banned substances returned by a number of our athletes. I was particularly disturbed that one of these athletes was a youth and that another was a recent graduate of one of our more prestigious high schools. Even more disheartening was that the youth allegedly tested positive for a core substance, a testosterone-type steroid. This was indeed not good news for Jamaica. None of those involved have admitted knowingly taking the substances that caused the unwanted results, and I am hoping against all the odds that they will be exonerated. I empathise with them.
There have been calls now for testing of high school athletes, although my understanding is that JADCo, the Jamaica representative of WADA, has the permission to test high-school level athletes, and that these are already being tested at a number of meets, restricted primarily by funding constraints.
#slideshowtoggler, #slideshowtoggler a, #slideshowtoggler img {filter:none !important;zoom:normal !important}
As I thought more about the whole episode, I began to wonder why we should be surprised if and when our athletes, even our younger ones, test positive for banned substances. The temptation for young people to use performance-enhancing substances should be easily understood by anyone who is familiar with high-level sports in our society. Winning (success) is considered by many to be the most important goal of sports; and at the professional level it is everything. This attitude has been infused even at the youth level. Society rewards success in sports with money, celebrity status and favouritism. For many, performanceenhancing substances are considered a necessary part of the price of success, since it helps to provide the edge over the competition. The enormous salaries paid to professional athletes are powerful incentives for those with outstanding athletic talent to try anything to ensure success.
According to the American Academy of Paediatrics: “The adolescent in today's society is caught in a struggle between ideals that are often in conflict: the attitude of winning at all costs, and the values of fairness and wholesomeness. Neither the use of drug bans nor the implementation of drug testing provides the young athlete with any framework or guidelines for resolving the conflict between the drive to win and the imperative to do the right thing.”
What is Jamaica doing differently to legitimately expect that our athletes should be any different? What has Jamaica done to provide the young athlete with the framework or guidelines for resolving the conflict between the drive to win and the imperative to do the right thing? Have we clearly and unequivocally rejected the win at all costs, the end justifying the means approach? Haven't our athletes had this attitude reinforced throughout their high school lives as, among other things, they watched their schools scramble to import, recruit, bring in youngsters based on their sports ability in an attempt to win sports events between schools? Haven't they seen their schools involved in such action and yet deny the act (even lying) in an attempt to cover it up? Haven't a number of our athletes, through no fault of their own, benefited unfairly from this practice, thus displacing poor, struggling, voiceless youths who would otherwise have been in the school or would have gained more from sports at that school? Many of these “normal” students are very talented in other areas outside of sports; why should they be discriminated against by schools?
If the school does not have to win at all costs, since it is not a sports academy or club, why doesn't the school develop the youngsters who would normally qualify to be at the school so that these would represent the school in the best way they can? Why doesn't the school focus on its true role, which is to develop, through sports and other means, good, productive citizens, whether they be sports stars or sports duds. With schools guilty of such duplicity, why should we expect our youngsters to act any differently as athletes? Athletes take sports performance-enhancing drugs while our high schools take sports-performanceenhancing students. Both are inimical to fair play and the spirit of competition that should apply.
This flurry of adverse results in track and field and football will have a silver lining if it helps to jolt the Ministry of Education, ISSA, our principals, coaches, alumni and parents into the realisation that we need to reassess how we approach sports in our schools. The unfavourable publicity surrounding these events should cause the powers that be to look again at using sports in educational settings as a tool for inculcating and reinforcing the values, attitudes and life skills that will fortify our citizens against the perils of approaches like win at all costs. Sports in our schools should be helping schools reach, capture the imagination of, and educate students while helping in the socialisation of our young citizens by helping them learn the life skills such as hard work, dedication, discipline, teamwork, fair play, ethics, and integrity. They must be taught to transfer these non-cognitive skills to other areas of their lives. Learning, having an enjoyable experience, representing the school in the best possible manner and developing a sense of community are the key benefits that sports should offer students. If a team wins after accomplishing these goals then the winning should represent the icing on the cake.
We need to be clear as to what are our values and hence what attitudes our schools, a critical component in the socialisation system, should be endeavouring to pass on to our young citizens. Remember that the universal law of cause and effect, action and reaction always holds. This law states that all actions have consequences and produce specific results, as do all inactions. The choices we make are causes, whether they are conscious or unconscious, and will produce corresponding outcomes. If we endorse the win-at-all-costs mentality, let us not be alarmed at the adverse consequences that will inevitably result in sports as well as other areas of endeavour.
We may not have to test our youngsters as extensively as some are proposing, but we must do all in our power to move our principals, coaches, alumni and parents away from this mentality which fosters and excuses corruption. If our schools do a better job of educating and socialising our youth, through sports and other means, then our citizens will find themselves less frequently in situations demanding protestations of ignorance.
Dr Lascelve “Muggy” Graham is a former Jamaica football captain.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz2b6E7rENR
Lascelve GRAHAM
Saturday, August 03, 2013
LIKE most people, I was disappointed by the recent positive tests for banned substances returned by a number of our athletes. I was particularly disturbed that one of these athletes was a youth and that another was a recent graduate of one of our more prestigious high schools. Even more disheartening was that the youth allegedly tested positive for a core substance, a testosterone-type steroid. This was indeed not good news for Jamaica. None of those involved have admitted knowingly taking the substances that caused the unwanted results, and I am hoping against all the odds that they will be exonerated. I empathise with them.
There have been calls now for testing of high school athletes, although my understanding is that JADCo, the Jamaica representative of WADA, has the permission to test high-school level athletes, and that these are already being tested at a number of meets, restricted primarily by funding constraints.
#slideshowtoggler, #slideshowtoggler a, #slideshowtoggler img {filter:none !important;zoom:normal !important}
As I thought more about the whole episode, I began to wonder why we should be surprised if and when our athletes, even our younger ones, test positive for banned substances. The temptation for young people to use performance-enhancing substances should be easily understood by anyone who is familiar with high-level sports in our society. Winning (success) is considered by many to be the most important goal of sports; and at the professional level it is everything. This attitude has been infused even at the youth level. Society rewards success in sports with money, celebrity status and favouritism. For many, performanceenhancing substances are considered a necessary part of the price of success, since it helps to provide the edge over the competition. The enormous salaries paid to professional athletes are powerful incentives for those with outstanding athletic talent to try anything to ensure success.
According to the American Academy of Paediatrics: “The adolescent in today's society is caught in a struggle between ideals that are often in conflict: the attitude of winning at all costs, and the values of fairness and wholesomeness. Neither the use of drug bans nor the implementation of drug testing provides the young athlete with any framework or guidelines for resolving the conflict between the drive to win and the imperative to do the right thing.”
What is Jamaica doing differently to legitimately expect that our athletes should be any different? What has Jamaica done to provide the young athlete with the framework or guidelines for resolving the conflict between the drive to win and the imperative to do the right thing? Have we clearly and unequivocally rejected the win at all costs, the end justifying the means approach? Haven't our athletes had this attitude reinforced throughout their high school lives as, among other things, they watched their schools scramble to import, recruit, bring in youngsters based on their sports ability in an attempt to win sports events between schools? Haven't they seen their schools involved in such action and yet deny the act (even lying) in an attempt to cover it up? Haven't a number of our athletes, through no fault of their own, benefited unfairly from this practice, thus displacing poor, struggling, voiceless youths who would otherwise have been in the school or would have gained more from sports at that school? Many of these “normal” students are very talented in other areas outside of sports; why should they be discriminated against by schools?
If the school does not have to win at all costs, since it is not a sports academy or club, why doesn't the school develop the youngsters who would normally qualify to be at the school so that these would represent the school in the best way they can? Why doesn't the school focus on its true role, which is to develop, through sports and other means, good, productive citizens, whether they be sports stars or sports duds. With schools guilty of such duplicity, why should we expect our youngsters to act any differently as athletes? Athletes take sports performance-enhancing drugs while our high schools take sports-performanceenhancing students. Both are inimical to fair play and the spirit of competition that should apply.
This flurry of adverse results in track and field and football will have a silver lining if it helps to jolt the Ministry of Education, ISSA, our principals, coaches, alumni and parents into the realisation that we need to reassess how we approach sports in our schools. The unfavourable publicity surrounding these events should cause the powers that be to look again at using sports in educational settings as a tool for inculcating and reinforcing the values, attitudes and life skills that will fortify our citizens against the perils of approaches like win at all costs. Sports in our schools should be helping schools reach, capture the imagination of, and educate students while helping in the socialisation of our young citizens by helping them learn the life skills such as hard work, dedication, discipline, teamwork, fair play, ethics, and integrity. They must be taught to transfer these non-cognitive skills to other areas of their lives. Learning, having an enjoyable experience, representing the school in the best possible manner and developing a sense of community are the key benefits that sports should offer students. If a team wins after accomplishing these goals then the winning should represent the icing on the cake.
We need to be clear as to what are our values and hence what attitudes our schools, a critical component in the socialisation system, should be endeavouring to pass on to our young citizens. Remember that the universal law of cause and effect, action and reaction always holds. This law states that all actions have consequences and produce specific results, as do all inactions. The choices we make are causes, whether they are conscious or unconscious, and will produce corresponding outcomes. If we endorse the win-at-all-costs mentality, let us not be alarmed at the adverse consequences that will inevitably result in sports as well as other areas of endeavour.
We may not have to test our youngsters as extensively as some are proposing, but we must do all in our power to move our principals, coaches, alumni and parents away from this mentality which fosters and excuses corruption. If our schools do a better job of educating and socialising our youth, through sports and other means, then our citizens will find themselves less frequently in situations demanding protestations of ignorance.
Dr Lascelve “Muggy” Graham is a former Jamaica football captain.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz2b6E7rENR