uNivErSity oF WAtErloo MAgAZiNE

Taylor Hooton, 17,
dreamed of playing
professional baseball.
He committed
suicide in 2003 after
abusing steroids. His
father, Don Hooton
established the Taylor
Hooton Foundation to
combat steroid use
in U.S. schools.
For Hooton, Waterloo’s decision to test the
entire football team and ultimately suspend
the Warrior football season was as unusual
as it was admirable.
“When someone tests positive, the typical
experience for colleges in the U.S. would be
for the athletic director to explain to the
senior administration that it was just one
athlete, a rogue athlete, and to circle the
wagons,” says Hooton.
Hooton says too often universities are more
focused on the win-loss record and the
university’s reputation rather than on the
well-being of the athletes.
Copeland believes that Succeed Clean is part of
the answer to the doping problem in elite sports.
“Whether it was through research or just
anecdotally hearing from kids, we found that
nobody talks to athletes,’’ he says. “Players on
our team told us that nobody had spoken to
them about steroids when they were younger.’’
Hooton, whose organization reached 175,000
people last year, says, “If you’re waiting until
these athletes get to college . . . you’re waiting
way too long.”
Ali Barras, the Waterloo cheerleader who
works with Eaket on Succeed Clean, told the
high school students that she worked out with
Eric Polini, the Warrior who admitted to using
steroids. And while most people picture football
players and body builders when they think of
steroids, she says the fastest growing group of
steriod abusers are young women — “Young
cheerleaders trying to look a certain way.”
While competitive cheerleading demands a high
level of athleticism, she pointed out teens not
involved in sports are also using steroids. They
are referred to as “mirror athletes” because they
want to look better, not perform better.
When Barras and Eaket warned the students about the risks of using
APEDs, they gave a sobering list of possible side-effects: acne, bloated
appearance, premature heart attack, liver damage and clotting
disorders. Males face the risk of reduced sperm counts, impotence,
breast development, shrinking testicles and premature baldness.
Side-effects for females can be facial hair, deepening of the voice,
breast reduction, menstrual cycle changes and abnormal muscle
growth. Students were also warned about the effects on the
brain — “roid rage” and depression.
Barras warned that underground APEDs bought over the Internet
are made in unsanitary labs and cut with such substances as motor
oil. She also reminded the students to be cautious with all products
they are buying. Everything from protein powders, to vitamins, to
diet pills can be harmful to their health. She said following Canada’s
Food Guide will do more for building muscle than any synthetic pill.
“Save your money,” Barras said. “Buy real food.”
While the university cautions its athletes about the risks posed
by supplements, Eaket told the crowd, “It’s up to you guys to know
what you’re putting into your body.”
More than education
Although education is part of the solution for doping, Copeland
points out that random testing of university athletes has
unfortunately been cut back, despite the fact that research
shows it helps reduce APED abuse.
“The cuts to testing are counter to one of the key recommendations
of the national task force,” Copeland says.
The cuts to university testing were confirmed by Paul Melia,
president of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES). He
says the federal government wants the CCES to focus resources on
Olympic athletes, which means a reduction in tests done on university
athletes. “We’re not doing as much as we need to do,” says Melia.
While he hopes to expand the Succeed Clean program across Canada
one day, Melia admits that the use of APEDs among young people is
a complex health issue. He would like to see the RCMP, local police
and border officials communicate better to protect young Canadians
from the illegal steroids making their way across the border.
He also acknowledges that university football is particularly
vulnerable to the doping subculture. Melia said one of the more
surprising things that came out of the Waterloo scandal was the
fact that clean athletes actually respected the athletes who were
found to be using steroids. “There was a sense that the clean
athletes were in admiration of the athletes who were really taking
risks to make the team better . . . there was that kind of distorted
thinking,” says Melia.
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