by George Angelidis, staff reporter
Over the years steroid usage has become a very controversial topic in sports and highly talked about. Christos Arkoudas a 22 year old defender who has great potential who plays on AEK, a team in Greece got caught doping on February 8th and was originally suspended for three years. However he realized what he did was wrong and apologized to the Greek Football Federation and had his ban reduced to just three months.
AEK’s coach Edward Linen said in a post match interview that Christos will never be the same player. If he ever wants to play again on the first team he has to impress him and make him forget the idiotic mistake he made. He also said Christos is still young and has a lot of times to rebuild his career.
There have been many situations where college and even high school athletes elected to take steroids, got caught and had their career’s shattered at such as young age.
“I’ve seen a couple of cases were student athletes have doped, thankfully none of mine or any kids that I have coached over the years. The two athletes that I knew who took steroids had their city championships stripped of them. They both were pretty solid chance of getting a scholarship to D-1 college. That one immature decision to take steroids denied all that, and to this day they both play in community college and still trying to find a way to reignite their career’s.” said, Jamaica Church and Olympiacos Reserves coach Pepe Lagonikas.
Most commonly professional athletes are the ones taking steroids to try to enhance their level of play. Some examples are Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Lance Armstrong, Manny Ramirez, Sammy Sosa, Melky Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez and many others.
The problem with taking steroids is that the people will forever remember it and will forever ruin their great reputation. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and even Mark McGwire had a very, very good chance at making it into the Hall of Fame but the people haven’t forgotten their mistake and simply didn’t give them the required voted to get inducted.
“I was playing for the U-19 national USA team and we had a world cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago. There was this one kid that tore us up left and right. He was by far the best player on the field. He was a little energizer bunny. After the game both teams took drug tests. We later found out that that same kid took steroids, which we could all see enhanced his play greatly. He was suspended for the rest of the competition,” said Andreas Chronis, a professional soccer player who has played in the U.S, Greece, and Italy.
Taking steroids also has a lasting effect on an athlete’s body. Injecting your body with steroids reduces it of some very important proteins and other key nutritional supplements in your body.
It also leads to premature closure of your growth plates which may lead to acne hair loss, testicular atrophy and changes in personality, including aggressive unjust behaviors according to Nationwide Children’s: Abuse of Drugs to Enhance Sports Performance, Winning at any cost.
“I think it’s completely wrong for younger athletes to take steroids, let alone professionals. It puts a strain on their body, will hurt them in the long run and most importantly is a form of blatant cheating.” said Junior Nikitas Troumouhis.
However as of late high school testing is not as common and has lost some momentum. Steroid testing is quite expensive and people feel as if high school athletes aren’t required to take the test. In some cases tests don’t catch some users and let a very select few people of the hook.
The biggest argument with why high school athletes aren’t tested like Olympic athletes is because legally they can’t because most high school athletes are still considered minors and aren’t allowed to be tested like Olympic athletes are.
Taking steroids not only may shatter an athlete’s career that they fought so hard to get to a certain point, it also puts a unhealthy strain on their body’s and most importantly ruins their reputation.
