steroid testing in HS

spnited, i digressed earlier, and for that, i apologize.

my point is: if public dollars are being spent on testing, then the public is paying for the testing. the fact people were taking illegal freedoms with the stockpile doesn't diminish that fact. the "stash" could have and should have been spent on its target audience, high school athletes. and now that they're using the money for testing, it never will be used for anything other than testing.

 

Now that, Tom, might be true. Their firsat attempt was to raise dues..but a State assemblyman who has been all over their asses forced them not to...at least for this year. There probably will be an increase next year because the legislated reduction in ticket prices reduced football and basketball revenus and cut a little deeper into the reserve.
The amazing thing is through the first year of random testing during State tournaments, no one has been suspended for steroid use.

 

did they test during fb as well?

 

The NJSIAA took testing to a new level tonight at the New Jersey State Meet of Champions track meet.
Top 3 finishers in each event had to report to the testing tent right after their event. Nothing random about it, as they have been doing since the start of the 06-07 school year (yes, TP, including FB during the State playoffs).
The only way the "random" part comes in is they told some athletes that their event was not being tested (after they showed up at the testing tent) and they might not test all of the samples they took.

But basically, random and anonymous went out the the window tonight, especially since they publicly announced at the meet that the top 3 in each event would be subject to steroid testing

 

Damn, that is pretty intense.
What was the reaction like by the athletes, coaches and fans? Did your paper write anything about it?

 

Given deadline/space restaints tonight with a late running meet, we are looking at following it up for Friday's paper. Would have been a logistical nightmare tonight

 

Understandable. What is the general feeling amongst your staff, though? Are they against it or for it?

 

Well, they sure as hell weren't happy that kids they had to talk to weren't available for about a half-hour after their event.

The sense I got from talking to them was there were a lot of people who felt very put out by this especially since no one knew it was coming to this extent until they got to the site.

 

Didn't think about the effect on interviews. That would really piss me off, because there is enough stress covering state track.