Children as young and 8 and 9 are using performance-enhancing supplements, easily available at neighborhood convenience stores. When the kids sip on energy drinks and munch on breakfast bars, they can suddenly become pumped up, then slow down. Meanwhile, they could experience mood swings ? even bouts of depression.
Those warning signs were mentioned Friday when more than 400 students from across Maryland convened at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Timonium, where they were cautioned on the dangers of steroids use.
Among those participating were Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, Rep. Elijah Cummings and State Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick.
“Playing Safe, Fair and Sober,” co-partnered by St. Joseph Medical Center and Cummings, aims to educate and inform coaches, athletic directors and parents on how students can best compete in sports and take care of their bodies. The conference was sponsored by Powered by ME! ? a campaign in Maryland focusing on the dangers of steroids and performance-enhancing substances on youth.
Grasmick said she became involved largely to convince students to make individual choices.
“We want them to have informed choices,” said Grasmick, adding that the state conducts periodic adolescent surveys, where students have admitted exposure to steroids.
“So we have to deal with this because whatever goals we have for these students, they will only be inhibited by continued behavior of this kind.”
Roberts, 31, acknowledged five years ago having used steroids. But Roberts insists he only tried them once before realizing he had made a bad choice. In cautioning his audience on the temptations and struggles of steroid use, he urged them to focus their energies on competing “the right way” rather than looking for short cuts.
“Temptations come because of the circumstances around you,” Roberts said. “But It?s hard to look at yourself in the mirror and say, ?I screwed up,? ” he said. “It?s even harder to look at people and say that because you don?t want them to know.”
Cummings also expressed “tremendous admiration” for Roberts? willingness “to put himself out” ? not only for the betterment of athletes but also for the well-being of students.
“I saw people come before our committee in Washington and I didn?t feel like they were always honest with us,” Cummings said of therecent testimony on Capitol Hill about steroid use by professional athletes.
“When I asked him one time if he?d [participate in the conference], he said he would, and that?s meant a lot to me.”
