Pubdate: Sat, 30 Aug 2014
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2014 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Kevin Mitchell
Page: 17

HUSKIES, TOWRISS MAKE 'BOLD MOVE' ON DRUG TESTING

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team is still waiting
for final results to be formally released after head coach Brian
Towriss ordered a team-wide drug test this spring.

TSN reported the testing and subsequent wait Friday and Towriss says
he decided to be proactive after ex-Huskie Seamus Neary was charged
with marijuana possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Towriss says his team could be perceived as "guilty by association"
and he wanted to see if there was a broader problem he wasn't aware
of. The team invited the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport to test
every Huskie for banned substances in March.

Towriss said he couldn't yet discuss specifics and didn't comment when
asked if any investigations are still ongoing.

"I think it was a pretty bold move on our part to do (the testing),"
Towriss said Friday. "We want to be up front and centre, saying we
don't accept that stuff here.

"We said, 'OK, if there's a problem, let's nip it now and find out.'
If we lose six or seven (players), there won't be a long-term problem.
And we found out after four months that there wasn't a problem. You go
to any locker room in the country, test 85 guys, and there's going to
be something, somewhere. You can test 85 students across the street
and there's going to be something, somewhere."

The University of Waterloo cancelled its 2010 football season, the
result of similar team-wide testing after nine players committed
doping violations.

Former Manitoba Bisons linebacker Ranji Atwall was suspended four
years this week after his second anti-doping violation, with the
second coming at a CFL combine in Edmonton.

Towriss said players have all the information they need about the
consequences for taking performance enhancing and other drugs and from
there they need to take responsibility for their actions.

"You do the education every year," Towriss said. "They have to take an
online course every year and I don't think we can do any more. The
only other answer is for the CIS to have mandatory, unannounced
testing on a reasonable number of kids - random targeting. That would
be the only other major deterrent for these kids. They all know they
can be suspended. That's no secret to any of them. It's whether they
want to roll the dice or not. It's not that they haven't been told a
million times, it's not that they haven't been educated about it, it's
not about programs anymore. It's about the kid. It's about the
individuals. It's about the individuals' choice.

"We didn't think it was an issue here," Towriss added, "but we wanted
to prove it wasn't."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt