Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JAMAL THALJIHap Hudson, who has trained thousands of athletes, tells River Ridge High players why they shouldn't try steroids.
NEW PORT RICHEY - Mike DeGennaro was concerned.
The River Ridge High School football coach has read stories of steroid use in professional sports. He has seen reports of professional athletes failing drug tests. He has seen the ads for athletic supplements in bodybuilding magazines.
He knows his kids have seen the same things.
That's why Hap Hudson, a trainer for 20 years in Major League Baseball, was at the River Ridge gym on Tuesday lecturing football players about the risks of using so-called performance-enhancing steroids and supplements.
But, Hudson asked the more than 50 football players assembled, what are they really enhancing?
"How is bigger going to help me?" Hudson said. "Because it doesn't guarantee better."
Hudson, 43, now is director of sports medicine for Sports and Orthopedic Rehabilitation Services Inc. He said he has trained more than 4,000 athletes. Among his list of clients is St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen, whom he has trained for years.
Said Hudson: "He's 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, and not an ounce of fat on him and not a supplement inside him."
Hudson said that Rolen's success - and his physique - is the result of a relentless work ethic, and proper diet and nutrition. That was Hudson's pitch to the River Ridge players: Instead of just listing the many dangers of steroids and the risks of taking unregulated supplements, Hudson also wanted them to know that the benefits are not what they might think.
"Will steroids make you a better athlete?" Hudson asked. "The answer is no, it does not. It can't improve ability, agility or skill.
"It can improve strength and, in certain instances, endurance. But it cannot improve skill."
Steroids can boost strength and body mass, he said, but at what cost? Among the ailments linked to steroid use are heart disease, stroke, liver damage, cancer, emotional problems, and increased ligament and tendon injuries - a risk that might worry young athletes because of its potential immediate damage to performance.
"Ah, there's one you didn't think of," he told the players.
Nor are the effects readily apparent, Hudson said. It can take years before the cost of using steroids is truly known.
"Steroids attack internally," he said. "What you see on the outside is not what you get on the inside. Your interior is rotting."
As for supplements, Hudson said that they are expensive, unregulated and potentially useless.
"In some of these products, only 10 percent may be supplements and 90 percent may be filler," he said.
River Ridge junior David Onorato said he doesn't know of any steroid use on the team.
"I think that's cheating," Onorato said.
But he said he will stop using the supplement whey protein.
"I'll just eat more chicken and fish to get my protein," he said.
DeGennaro said it's easy for players to tune out coaches and parents but harder to ignore someone with Hudson's resume.
"With parents and coaches, kids at times they're with us for so long they don't want to listen to them," he said. "We brought in somebody with a lot of experience dealing with pro athletes. Hopefully, they got something out of it and will listen."