Substance Abuse In Sports Essay

Substance abuse has been an issue for much longer than people think. Substance abuse became a problem even before the development of organized sports such as the Olympics. Substance abuse has been evolving over time based on the continued advances in being able to test for different classes of substances within people’s system. Drug abuse is described as the use of drugs used as performance enhancers that could give the athlete a better advantage than other athletes. Substance abuse has been discovered among multiple athletes at many different levels of competition. There have been many famous and well-known athletes that have gotten caught for substances in their system or in their possession. With the abuse with alcohol, drugs, or other over the counter medicine, these athletes that have been caught abusing substances have faced consequences.
With athletics being so popular within society today, it is important to know, apply, and educate others on the effects and problems that people with this issue face. As a coach, it is important that the coach know what his or her …show more content…
Substance abuse has been an issue since before the beginning of organized athletics, even though most people believe that substance abuse started with organized athletics. Some of the most common substances mentioned include marijuana, alcohol, and amphetamine. There are many others that one hears about which includes cocaine and tobacco, but were not mentioned. The value of this information is useful for working with athletes and for the exercise physiologists because of their work with performance and exercise. Research has shown that substance abuse has been a popular topic because of the impact that these substances are playing on athletes, the number of athletes that have been caught with these substances, and how being knowledgeable may be able to benefit others within one’s