Intrigued by the latest news from Yahoo! News story, Agassi admits using crystal meth in autobiography, I thought to myself – how do drugs and alcohol play into one’s drive to be successful in sports?
The article describes, world renowned tennis player, Andre Agassi’s introduction to Crystal Meth from a friend and the feelings associated with taking the drug. Interestingly enough, the thoughts and experience accurately describe the obsession of the mind when an addict experiments with a drug for the first time. The guilt and remorse are overcome by the intense feelings of pleasure and power.
From the sounds it, Agassi is lucky to have not developed a full on addiction to Methamphetamines, which would have more than likely required addiction treatment. It appears that Agassi learned a valuable lesson about the dangers of using a drug like Meth, but made it out the otherside without losing everything.
Sports can be a great alternative to drinking and druging, but they can also lead young adults to use drugs to perform above and beyond their limits. We find at Gatehouse Academy, some young people develop their addictions at a young age using performance enhancing drugs like steroids, methamphetamine and cocaine. Feeling pressure from peers and parents to preform well can put a young adult in a position to develop an addiction.
We also understand that Sports are a social activity that can introduce young people to others that use drugs and alcohol regularly. Many young people describe drinking as a way to fit in with older teammates, and feel a part of the team.
The danger of this behavior is that young people do not know if they have a predisposition to become an addict or an alcoholic. If they are, then it will be a long and arduous battle for years to come, and they will most likely end up in one of three places: prison, mental institution or, God forbid, death.
thanks for the post.
Yes, I saw the information on Aggassi and his meth use on the cover of some magazine somewhere. My first thought was, ‘great, now people are going to get the notion you can do meth and still be a world class athlete.”
I have yet to read the book, or even the article, but from what I have gathered it was not a great experience overall, so that might be a good message!
how does the public play apart of athletes that are driven towards drugs? is it because of the pressure that we placed upon them to perform to reach the high expectations?
I am sure that has a great deal to do with it. I can’t imagine the immense pressure placed on professional athletes, and sometimes drugs and alcohol can be used to gain relief from those types of anxieties.
Although the sports profession could be the easiest way for youngsters to develop substance addiction, family and friends should be able to recognize the addiction and should help and support them with getting professional help through Substance Abuse Treatment and good and effective Detox Programs.