If you are a parent, coach, or any other adult responsible for providing mentoring for kids involved in youth sports, please pay attention to a very serious concern we are seeing in girls and boys sports across our country today – that is, the increasing amount of kids who are using various performance enhancing supplements used to improve on-field performance (
Parents Video Package). Included in this catch-all category of enhancement aids are anabolic steroids, Human Growth Hormone (HGH), creatine, and just about every other protein powder, energy drink, and vitamin supplement on the shelves at your local general nutrition store. In my experience there are many concerns and “gray area” issues that need to be acknowledged and addressed regarding this issue so that kids can continue to safely and successfully participate in youth sports.Admittedly, it is incredibly difficult to say exactly how many kids are using supplements today, as this data is very challenging to obtain (many kids simply won’t admit to using them). Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that more kids are using supplements every year and I have arrived at this conclusion through one-on-one sessions with youth athletes, as well as countless conversations with coaches, parents, trainers, and various other athletic personnel. There are many reasons for increased supplement usage amongst youth athletes today, including the following:1. Terrific Marketing: Have you ever walked into a nutrition store? If not, make it a point to do so soon – once there, look around at all the fabulous marketing aimed at getting consumers to believe that many of the supplements available will help speed up training, reduce recovery time, and ultimately help you get into the best shape of your life in little to no time! Sexy people, big muscles, and 6-pack abs on the fronts of packages will have you chomping at the bit to bring some home for yourself, I promise (throw in an energy drink with some power-monster name and your head will spin!).2. Pluralistic Ignorance: this is the “everybody is doing it, so it must be good” heuristic people fall prey to when making personal choices. With supplements, many kids end up trying things because they see other kids on the team getting stronger and faster and immediately think they should jump on the bandwagon, too – which leads us to point #3….3. Erroneous cause-effect assumptions: So do these supplements really work? Can we with 100% certainty say that the juice, powder, or pills your child is ingesting is responsible for his/her improved strength and speed? It is almost impossible to make this claim, as there are other competing hypotheses to consider when making that assumption. More specifically, the placebo effect and self-fulfilling prophecies must be examined when looking for cause-effect relationships. Think about it – when a young person begins using a performance enhancing supplement he almost certainly believes it will “work,” and with this excitement the child will almost always begin to put in even more effort and hard work in the weight room, the track, and anywhere else he can improve his strength! I have never once met a young person who has gone on to use supplements and gotten lazier – but I have consistently met kids who while using work longer and harder.Of course not every child today is using a performance supplement, and regarding the efficacy of supplements I cannot say with 100% certainty that they don’t “work” beyond a simple placebo effect. However, regardless of whether they work or not, there are many reasons why you should be concerned about the rates of usage these days, including some of the following:1. Kids bodies are still growing and when they use untested, unapproved supplements not scrutinized by the FDA there are many things to be concerned about! In fact, many of the products available today have only been around a very short time, and consequently, we have no long-term data regarding side effects, withdrawal effect, or even interaction effects if your child is currently on another medication.2. There is an erroneous assumption of “legal = safe.” Many of us believe that if a product is legal it has to be safe — unfortunately that is simply not always the case (cigarettes are legal but most would agree they are not safe).3. There is a real gray area when it comes to responsibility and oversight of kids who choose to use supplements. In conversations that I have with parents and coaches, I regularly hear parents tell me coaches should know what kids are using (and determine whether its safe or not), while coaches tell me parents should know what their kids are using and how safe their decisions are! Making this even more challenging is the fact that these supplements are legal, leaving schools virtually handcuffed when it comes to instituting polices and procedures to guard against usage.The bottom line is this: Most experts in the sport sciences will tell you that there is no substitute or shortcut to motivation and hard work. They will also advise you to help your child learn how to improve his or her athletic talents by putting the time into their sport, rather than to look for faster ways through pills, powders, or sports drinks. When you consider all the risks involved with kids who choose to use supplements, and with the reality of less than 7% of all high school kids going on to play college sports (and an even smaller percentage on partial/full-ride scholarships), you have to again ask yourself is it really worth all these risks??
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