State Senate studies steroids

State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) says he doesn't know if local students use the illegal strength enhancing drugs, but was interested in leading the committee because of his coaching career and he anticipates more attendance tomorrow than the dozen people who showed up for his first hearing.

Steve Watterson, the strength coach for the Titans, and Adolpho Birch Jr., staff attorney and labor counsel for the National Football League, are to testify at 1:30 p.m. at the Legislative Plaza where the Senate Education Committee's Steroid Subcommittee is to meet, the Shelbyville lawmaker said Sunday.

Birch is the son of state Supreme Court Justice Adolpho Birch and has provided information to various other state governments on the NFL's policy on steroids. He's "very knowledgeable on steroids and substance abuse," Tracy said.

State Sen. Jim Tracy (Tennessee General Assembly web site) [Click to enlarge]

Congressional hearings in Washington, D.C. and President Bush's State of the Union speech when he called for action to deal with abuse of steroids are reasons the Steroid Subcommittee was created, the Shelbyville lawmaker said.

The responsibility educators have is an issue that Tracy said he'd raise as a topic of inquiry. State law requires teachers to report when they've noticed signs of child abuse. Whether coaches and other educators should be required to report suspicions of use of steroids is a question Tracy may raise for the subcommittee's report to the Education Committee.

Signs of steroid use for strength building include acne on the back and the back of the user's neck, Tracy said.

There are dangers, as well.

"Anabolic steroids may allow your body to gain weight, but they can stop your body from maturing as it should," Tracy said. "Your bones and joints may not grow as they should."

Sterility is another potential result of steroid use.

"I'm interested in what these two men have to tell us about what to look for," said Tracy, who coached the Columbia Academy Bulldogs in Maury County during the 1980s as head baseball coach, head girls basketball coach and assistant football coach.

Tracy also worked as a coach in Alabama and Georgia. He played baseball as a college student.

Special study committee hearings are conducted to report findings and recommendations. No decisions have been made with regard to those steps, Tracy said, but he outlined some questions which could be considered.

That includes asking; Is Tennessee doing enough to educate its students, especially student athletes on the dangers of using illegal steroids?

"If we feel like the TSSAA (Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association) and the state are doing enough, then we may not recommend legislation," Tracy said. "We'll know more after Tuesday."

The TSSAA sent officials to the Steroid Subcommittee for its first hearing and the association provided posters and DVDs for use in schools.

Biology and/or health classes may already include study sections that include lessons on steroids, Tracy said. Perhaps the subcommittee will recommend additional emphasis on such lessons instead of recommending a change in curriculum, he said.

"It may be in the curriculum," he said. "We may want to expand it."

Changing curriculum requires action by many more people, the lawmaker said.

On such matters, Birch may be instructive, Tracy said.

"We don't need to reinvent the wheel," he said. "He may tell us about some legislatures in other states to see if we can put into effect here what they did there.

"Coach Watterson will be able to give us the day-to-day methods on how to deal with athletes and explain to them the symptoms and effects" of steroid use, Tracy said. "Birch will give us the legal aspects of steroids."