The Link, MONTREAL (CUP) — In an unprecedented decision, Quebec’s AAA Midget Hockey League (QMJHL) will begin drug testing its players for performance-enhancing drugs this coming March. According to league president Martin Roy, preliminary surveys suggested that 25 per cent of players in the league were consuming drugs.
Before taking the job as head coach of the Concordia men’s hockey team, Kevin Figsby was the bench boss for the AAA Lac St. Louis organization. He believes that the implementation of testing in midget hockey is a result of an exaggeration of the truth and possibly a knee-jerk reaction to the announcement of testing in the QMJHL. “It’s a little premature to be testing kids at that age,” Figsby said. “It adds a negative connotation to the fun that the kids are having playing the game of hockey.”
Any players who test positive for a performance-enhancing steroid will receive a six-game suspension on their first offence and a one-year ban for their second.
University athletes have been subject to random drug testing since 1993, according to Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) CEO Marg MacGregor. “We test between 300 and 400 athletes from every sport each year,” he said.
The Concordia men’s hockey team hasn’t been tested for the last two seasons, but was subject to testing three separate times in 2000. MacGregor chose not to comment on any actions taken by another athletic organization, asserting that “they probably have a better understanding of their situation than I do.”
But the CIS boss does not feel that testing kids aged between 14 and 16 is inappropriate or unprecedented. “We have high performance athletes competing at the Olympics at the age of 14; they are tested, so I don’t feel that the actions of the league are out of line.”
Many experts also predict that the first detection of genetic manipulation will occur at the upcoming 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Sociology professor Val Morrison understands the severe consequences that genetic manipulation could potentially bring into sport and feels that “because of its early stages, it will be a much more physically devastating instance than any we have seen thus far.”
A likely consequence of this type of drug use is hard to believe, but it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the bones of an athlete shatter or explode upon rigorous impact.
With a plethora of information on narcotics available these days, it is both surprising and disappointing that league administrators across the country are essentially forced to implement these kinds of regulations upon its athletes. But where should the blame fall? Young athletes have never been under as much pressure as they are today to perform.
Previously, teenagers were found as top athletes only in non-contact sports such as tennis and gymnastics. But in recent years 18-year-olds have made their way into NHL starting lineups. This early admission into professional sports has added strain onto amateur development associations such as the Quebec AAA Midget League because its players are constantly fast-tracked up the ranks and specific teams are not given enough time to educate their players on the dangers of using drugs. Rather, they are forced by mandates to concentrate on the success of the team and the development of the players up to their full potential.
