Drug Testing?

[timj5304]

Well what if you have all the technique down as a pro? I just always wonder if that little bit of extra power would help if added with the good snap. Lets say we have a guy who can drive about 450 and has to take 3's on 500-550 holes and all of a sudden can drive farther and make those 2's.

 

[Dsplayname]

I know from experience that smoking pot DOES make me drive farther/more accurate, helps me select discs and angles to throw, and I make more putts. Sucks that I no longer partake of it. I think using drugs to get your mind right and better focus your concentration would help your game much more than "steroids." Just a thought

 

[jsun3thousand]

now roids are holding the sport back? just make one the big sponsors pay for the tests. that should finally get espn ocho off our backs.

 

[smyith]

Do professional disc golfers get drug tested at all this day in age? No I am not talking about pot or mushrooms but steroids. I was watching the live feed today and 2 top players appear to be MUCH larger in size this year than in previous years and had not seen these guys live appearance yet this year and was shocked. One is a younger guy so I guess for him he is still in the end of his filling out stage but the other is in his late 20's and jacked.

HAHA!!!! is this cause i made that joke in chat about Avery being juiced? i was really surprised that people took it seriously. the guy is a gym nut in the off season. hes a mesomorph/endomorph body type (i used to be hardcore into the body building bs) so he can gain muscle very quickly but hes also got some of the endo-flab. i highly doubt he juices. the money made in DG wouldnt even pay for the steroid regiment.

I know from experience that smoking pot DOES make me drive farther/more accurate, helps me select discs and angles to throw, and I make more putts. Sucks that I no longer partake of it. I think using drugs to get your mind right and better focus your concentration would help your game much more than "steroids." Just a thought

its called state dependent learning.

 

[medicinalfunk]

steroids make your putts go in

 

[Ripper]

Currently taking 200mg testosterone, and I can say 1000 % that it is a miracle drug. Just for many people with real medical probs steroids improve quality of life. Think anyone that has seriously played competitve sports has done or contemplated it because they work and work amazingly.

 

[Ripper]

Also, I take it for a medical problem. Think everyone thinks that drugs like HGH, Andro-gel, Testosterone is for cheaters etc or just for athletic uses. Sorry, at work and post didn't come out right.

 

[schnelle]

Its a shame that athletes can't be supervised using these PROPERLY, because their rehab time would be reduced dramaticly. On a side note; has anyone else's upperbody slowly become "ripped", because my upperbody is slowly looking better and better. I don't work out, just throw, and throw, and throw.

 

[Mattallica]

.

Take Ken Climo for example I sure as **** hope he is getting cortisone shots for his elbow, if not that really, really sucks for him. The fact that I can use them to get better so that I can chuck some discs and go to my desk job without pain, but people who actually live off of their physical abilities can't, just blows my mind.

Athletes can take cortisone injections, I just looked AT THE nfl banned substance list, lots of things but no cortisone. The reason a lot of athletes were hesitant to use cortisone in the past was due to the scar tissue that would accumulate. I don't know what kind of technological advancements have been made or if they have.

 

[BrotherDave]

^Val Jenkins, right there. Case closed. :|

 

[bikinjack]

Athletes can take cortisone injections, I just looked AT THE nfl banned substance list, lots of things but no cortisone. The reason a lot of athletes were hesitant to use cortisone in the past was due to the scar tissue that would accumulate. I don't know what kind of technological advancements have been made or if they have.

Check the IOC's banned substance list, or better yet, the UCI's. The NFL's drug testing is a joke, by comparison.

For example, the UCI does test for cortisone and related products, but there's a threshold for what's allowed. As long as the athlete in question doesn't test above that threshold, he (or she) is golden, and passes the drug test. Said athlete can also get a medical exemption to use many drugs.

 

[Smigles]

We should start testing ping pong players, too. :doh:

I think ping pong is a olympic sport.

I also think that any athlete playing at the olypmics can and will be tested.

There you go.

 

[Script]

This is an interesting thread, I never thought much about it.

I think the PDGA should start thinking about how to defuse any doping early. If the main goal of the PDGA is for the sport to be mainstream, it would be detrimental to start out in the publics view as a doping sport (i guess it already is perceived as another doping sport). I'm not sure action is required at the moment. I mean, when I see these guys hit a 450' anny line, I think to myself "I could hit that line with a bit of practice". I think the roid concern is probably more for the huge throwers than it is the elite players.

You never know though! Either way, as a player myself, if I was going against a roided player and they won, I know for a fact it wouldn't be because they juice. It would be because they were better.

 

[Fishy]

I've seen people use 'roids for absolutely zero payout. I used to go to the gym and with the correct amount of supplements and workout ethic it wasn't hard to bulk up, but the shortcut for a lot of guys were 'roids, what took me a year they could do in a few months. I've met people that if they could afford them, and thought for a second it would make them better than other players, they wouldn't hesitate a second to take whatever they could. It's not about making the money for some people, it's about being better than others (or thinking they are).

If you look at the amateur bodybuilding people, they make very little and even their legal supplements would costs can't be covered by the payout.

 

[Recant]

If that documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster it to be believed, anabolics aren't really that expensive. Theres also very lax regulation on whom anabolic products like Human Growth Hormone and other testosterone boosters can be handed out to. For example a person can get them for a large number of seemingly legit reasons such as depression where a hormone imbalance maybe be the root. When they test your hormone levels its up to the Doc to interpret the results of very loose guidelines.

To Date I don't believe theres any way to test for a large number of common anabolics like HGH. Theres tons of reasons why a person of any age would have higher than normal test. levels in say for example on a blood screening. You'd also have to worry about other such things like testing for concentration boosting like Piraceatam and all manner of other things which makes testing both unlikely or ineffective. Theres long been backs and forths between the performance enhancing substance industry and testing firms. Its a sort of arms race thats never really going to be won.

Someone mentioned it earlier about sports suppliments and I thought I might chime in an mention that Utah is the home of almost all "suppliment" manufacturer's. The reason for this is they have very very lax regulations on the industry over there, to the effect of you can basically fill a pill with un tested substances or even placebo and sell it in a shiny box with explosion on the front and a manly sounding name and its totally ok. The FDA regularly bans all manner of substances either because testing shows it has harmful side effects well after its gotten to the market.

I think the main reason your starting to see more fit pros is the same reason you see it in ball golf post Tiger Woods. If your in great shape your going to do better even at finesse style sports like disc golf. I'm sure you'll start seeing this more often as the pro world gets more competitive.

 

[Guurn]

I hope they don't start testing or I will have to stop playing tourneys. As someone who is on steroids constantly I can tell you they do help. The main benefit for me is in the recovery. If I am off the roids I have to take a bit more time off between rounds or workouts and if I get injured it takes me longer to heal. I am sure that is why pitchers in the majors took it as well.

 

[medicinalfunk]

will roids make me throw farther?

 

[discmeister]

Is there testing in ball golf?

 

[billnchristy]

Yeah...roids would be the least of the problems.

Besides for the cost people, there is a country called Mexico below us, you can buy this stuff at pharmacies there.

 

[Rocaholic74]

The PGA does extensive testing before the beginning of the season. They also do sporadic testing throughout the year/season as well. If the PGA thinks that someone may possibly be taking something they will ask you to come in and get tested. You also have to provide a list of medications that you are taking prior to starting the season. If any of the medications show up on the banned list you have to stop taking it unless it is a medication that you cannot live without. There was a big lawsuit a year ago where a professional golfer had to take a certain type of heart medication....well it showed up on the banned list because one of the effects the drug had was to slow down his heart rate...thus claming him down....which the PGA thought would give him an edge over other players throughout the tournament....because everyone who has ever played competitive sports knows about the adrenaline rush yuou can get from being in the thick of things during a competition...he actually won the suit because the medication was necessary for him to live...

There are certain medications that people take everyday that would show up on the banned list just because of how they slow a person's mind down or calm the nerves....how many people out there have ever played either disc golf or ball golf after drinking a beer....how does your body feel...it feels loose and your mind is quiet instead of it normally going a million miles a hour.....ok....now how many people have ever taken valium/xanax or something equal to those drugs....what does it do...it loosens you up....it slows down your mind....these types of drugs would give a person an advantage over other players that don't take the drug...

In short...should there be testing in professional sports....hell yes....these are the people who have risen to the top of their respective sport....they should've learned how to cope with the pressures of tense situations...you either make that 30' double breaking putt on a green that's running 12 on the stimp meter or you don't....you either sink that 40' downhill putt to a basket that has a fast green behind it or you end up taking second place...that's why they play sports for a living and the rest of us sit on our a$$es under fake lights and try to get as good as we can get at the sports we like...

sorry.....rant over..