Have you had that talk yet with your kids about STEROIDS, otherwise known as “performance enhancing DRUGS”, as the pros call them. Just drop out the first two words in that title, and that’s exactly what you should be warning the athlete in your family about.

Boston Red Sox David Ortiz, known as Big Papi to us Fenway fans, was named this week on the list of 103 Major League Baseball players to have tested positive in 2003 for a performance enhancing drug. Now I’m wondering which home run hitters have not tinkered with drugs to add power to their swing. Ortiz said, “Based on the way I lived my life I’m surprised to learn I tested positive.” “You know me – I will not hide and I will not make excuses,” he said. 

Just how did he live his life? And, if he doesn’t hide things or make excuses, then how did an illegal substance just happen to enter his body to make him fail the drug test? That stuff wasn’t just mixed with a beer he drank.

Tell your kids to avoid other players on their teams that offer them anything that enters the body - whether it’s in a drink, injection, powder, or pill. JUST SAY NO. Tell them not to be intimidated by older players or coaches offering any of the above. Yes, there are protein powders and similar things that athletes do use, and are legal. They should be letting mom or dad make that decision.

Keep a close relationship with your teenagers. Rather than drilling them about the effects of drugs, show them articles in the newspapers, or stories on television. They may believe you more if they see the stories for themselves, rather than relayed through mom or dad.

If you suspect a coach, player or parent is providing a questionable substance, keep your child away from them until you can question the source, or an athletic director. They should be open with you about the situation, unless they are hiding something.

Remind your son or daughter that not only are these drugs illegal and harmful to their bodies, but they can lose their scholarship to college for using drugs.

I periodically ask my teenage athlete whether anyone has approached him with drugs, or offered him something to build his body. The key is to keep an open dialogue with them. They need to be able to trust someone if the issue arises.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: Baseball, Big papi, bob hammerstrom, Boston, Dave, david, drugs, enhancing, fenway, illegal, major league baseball, MLB, ortiz, park, performance, Red Sox, steroids