Evanston and Loyola Academy are separated by just 5.3 miles on Chicago’s North Shore, so when the neighborhood rivals meet it is sure to be a heated battle. Continue reading
Ramblers, Wildkits end in tie
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Loyola gets two Regional crowns
Loyola’s Dancer, Paloian claim regional crowns
BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW February 6, 2012
Contributor
Patrick Dancer and Michael Paloian both know that Loyola isn’t considered a wrestling power in the area. Continue reading
>Steroid Tests in High School: A Policy Worth Discussing
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By: Michael Wojtychiw and Stephen Villatoro
For all athletes, the pressure of being the best is something that can cause some to do things they would have never imagined.
Anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs have been a part of the sports landscape since the 1970s, from professional sports to high schools. And for Illinois prep athletes as well as many in other states, testing for these banned substances can be the only way to keep the playing field level and the athletes healthy.
However, randomly testing student-athletes doesn’t sit well with everyone.
In December 2006, Illinois High School Association member schools approved a bylaw that took effect on July 1, 2007 and identifies what schools or school officials can and cannot distribute to student-athletes as far as testing. According to the IHSA Web site, this bylaw is a change aimed at strengthening the relationship between students and their schools by affirming the school’s commitment to offering a safe environment in which students can develop.
Paul Murphy, varsity football coach at Waubonsie Valley High School and trustee for the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association, said he believed the IHSA is moving in the right direction with their drug testing policy.
“Performance enhancing substances are not good for anyone, especially teenage athletes who have no idea what they are putting into their bodies and what the drugs are doing to their bodies,” said Murphy. “As coaches and teachers, we do the best we can to educate student-athletes on the harmful effects of performance enhancing substances.”
But not everyone agrees that testing is the right approach to take.
Ed Yohnka, director of Communications for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the ACLU does not support this type of testing program, suggesting that random testing is irresponsible and doesn’t send a good message to student-athletes.
“We are concerned about any intrusive, invasive drug testing that is random and suspicionless,” Yohnka said. “We do not agree that we address the serious problems posed by the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs by subjecting every student-athlete in Illinois to a dragnet of drug testing.”
Is the Policy Working?
Steroids and other performance enhancers in sports has become a major topic in professional sports over the past decade. However, when it involves high school athletics it becomes a complicated and highly debatable issue.
Currently 1,000 Illinois student-athletes are randomly tested each year. The Illinois High School Association is made up of 765 schools. That equates to less than two student-athletes per school being tested.
While no one interviewed said steroid use could be avoided, some wonder if it can even be regulated efficiently. A year after the testing measure passed, the IHSA sent out a survey to its 765 members, with questions ranging from performance-enhancing drugs to the expansion of classes. Of the 765 administrators asked to fill out the survey, approximately 54 percent responded. The results suggest the drug testing policy has a long way to go before it’s effective.
See the survey results.
Seventy-two percent of the respondents said they did favor a drug-testing program. Those who did favor the plan were asked to answer five more questions about the program. Nearly all of the respondents (284 of the 294) said they would favor declaring ineligible any player who was caught using performance-enhancing drugs or steroids. However, 60 percent said they would not favor the forfeiture of any post-season award.
Matt Troha, assistant executive director of the IHSA, believed there was an explanation for the statistics.
“I believe the majority of the membership who voted this way wanted each case reviewed by our Executive Director rather than having a broad plan,” Troha said. “For example, if a student who was sitting out all postseason because of injury was tested through our program and tested positive, the administrators felt like that student had no barring on the result and the other kids should not be punished.”
Troha said 10 athletes have tested positive so far, but were given exemptions by a medical review officer. The numbers suggest IHSA athletes are staying clean but the plan is designed to test only a small amount of students. However, the study proved the program still has unresolved issues.
Loyola Academy senior football player Quinn Kaiser said the results of the test proved just how different certain schools and officials feel about the whole program.
“That just goes to show how greedy some people can be I guess,” Kaiser said. “Some people just care more about winning than being right and that’s sad. I know if it was me, and I am pretty sure it goes for the rest of the people here at Loyola, but if someone messes up, you need to do what’s right. If you cheat, take responsibility. It’s only right.”
National Institute on Drug Abuse | Drug Free Sport | Sport Safe Testing Service
>Lacrosse Catching on in Chicago, Suburbs
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A Glenbrook South player battles an opponent from Hathaway Brown for possession (Photo by Fred Dial)
In a sport dominated by schools on the East Coast, schools in the Midwest are starting to show that they are forces to be reckoned with. The sport of lacrosse has become so popular in the state of Illinois that the Illinois High School Association has approved a Lacrosse State Series starting in the 2010-2011 school year.
To do that, there needs to be a total of 60 boys and 40 girls teams by February of next year. Both the girls and boys have met those figures already and with the rapid growth of the sport, it is safe to say that the number of schools will only go up.
Lacrosse originated with the Native Americans of the United States and Canada, mainly among the Huron and Iroquois Tribes. In many societies/tribes, the ball sport was often part of religious ritual, played to resolve conflicts, heal the sick, develop strong, virile men and prepare for war. Legend tells of games with more than 100 players from different tribes taking turns to play.
It could be played on a field many miles in length and width; sometimes the game could last for days. Early lacrosse balls were made of deerskin, clay, stone and sometimes wood.
In the United States, lacrosse had primarily been a regional sport centered in and around Colorado, Florida, upstate New York, Texas, and mid-Atlantic states. In recent years, its popularity has started to spread south to Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and Florida, as well as the Midwest. The sport has gained increasing visibility in the media, with a growth of college, high school, and youth programs throughout the country. According to a 2006 New York Times article, the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship has the highest attendance of any NCAA Championship, outdrawing even the Final Four of men’s basketball.
The sport of boys lacrosse first originated in the state of Illinois in 1988, when the first title game was held between Lake Forest and Evanston High Schools, with Lake Forest winning. It has grown from a mere seven schools to over 60, including schools in the inner city, such as Harlan and Collins Academies.
New Trier High School and Loyola Academy have been the two most successful programs in boys lacrosse, having played in 13 and 17 of the 21 championship games, respectively. Loyola has won the most titles, winning eight of the 17, including five against the rival Trevians, but new Trier has had the ramblers’ number recently, as they have defeated Loyola in the title game in each of the past four years.
“The competitiveness of Illinois high school lacrosse has risen in recent years, said Jamie Considine, an Illinois High School Lacrosse Association administrator said. “We now have lots of players going on to play Division I, II, and III college lacrosse. We have expanded the number of All-Americans from one to six annually to account for the increase in numbers and talent.”
Girls lacrosse, while not as popular yet in Illinois as the boys game, is only entering its 12th year of competition in the state of Illinois. Seven schools first started the Illinois High School Women’s Lacrosse Association in 1998: Loyola, New Trier, Regina Dominican, Lane Tech, Glenbrook South and Lake Forest.
Like their male counterparts, Loyola and New Trier, along with Lake Forest, have been the most successful teams, with Loyola being in every single of the 12 championship games.
“We are all excited because I feel this will give lacrosse more of a seal of approval,” said Loyola girls lacrosse coach John Dwyer. “Because it will now be an IHSA sport, more schools will start programs and that only makes the level of play in Illinois better.”
With the new Championship Series, there will be a new quirk in the seeding that there wasn’t before. The boys game has two divisions, A and B, where the top teams are in the A division and the rest are in the B division.
With the inception of the new playoff series, this will no longer be the case. All schools will play in one class. The girls game, however, does not have multiple classes and is seeded. The Championship Series will do what they do with the rest of their sports: break schools up into regionals and sectionals, based on location. Not all coaches are thrilled about this.
“I have a bad feeling that the Championship games won’t feature the best two teams in the state anymore,” said Dwyer, who has been Loyola’s coach for eight years. “In the past it had been that we would face New Trier or Lake Forest in either the semifinals or finals. With this new system, we will face them in the second or third round. So it might end up that the best team in the state is done after one or two games.”
But as Dwyer later added, it doesn’t matter what the name on the trophy is, it’s all the same. You can never take away the feeling of a championship.
Michael Wojtychiw 