Greg Schwab's The Case Against High School Sports

Athlete-Students
Becoming great at anything takes hard work, sacrifice, and dedication; it takes more than just raw talent to become the best at something. But becoming the best attracts the attention of skeptics, and it raises the question: is the ability of the athlete pure talent, hard work, and dedication, or is there the use of performance-enhancing drugs? People are always looking for an edge over their opponent, and this might lead to the use of supplements that are borderline illegal, but can possibly squeak by and not be traceable. This can cause problems that are discussed in the article “Will Genetics Destroy Sports?” Crossing over to high school sports, the article “The Case Against High School Sports” talks about how high school

Schwab used steroids, which allowed him to reach an even higher level. He now speaks out about the dangers of steroid and performance-enhancing drug use and wants to keep athletes away from this. Schwab writes that the change in focus of sports to “excel at the highest level” has only aided in the increase of performance-enhancing drug use (Schwab n.p.). Instead of a team based culture, sports are changing to a more selfish mindset. Everyone is looking to improve them-self without focusing on making the team as a whole better. Athletes wanting to improve themselves and focus on making them-self better may look for an easy solution; that being performance-enhancing drugs. This can allow them to develop and excel at a higher rate than other

High school athletes will go digging for solutions to become bigger, faster, and stronger. “The values of competition, teamwork, dedication, and cooperation have been replaced by a new focus or value, simply to excel at the highest possible level” (Schwab n.p.). This introduces them to the option of using performance-enhancing drugs. Schwab states from his personal experience that “between 5 to 10 percent of athletes I have coached used steroids” (Schwab n.p.). High school athletes strive to play at the collegiate level, and some aspire beyond that to play at the professional level. Teenagers look up to professional athletes and desire to look and play like them. “They are the role models. They choose the jersey numbers of their favorite professional players. They emulate their training regimens. They emulate their style of play. And they are influenced by their drug use” (Schwab n.p.). Seeing their role model use steroids or performance-enhancing drugs, gives teens the idea that it is acceptable to do. With all the pressure to perform at a high level and succeed, athletes may fold under pressure and do what they can to reach a higher