MUSCLE BOOSTER CONCERNS MORE SCHOOLS

Districts across state are telling coaches, athletes to stay away from creatine

Worried about the potential long-term health effects of a body-building
supplement that more and more high school athletes are using, a number of
school districts across the state reported Wednesday that they are taking
steps to curtail its use.

The Waukesha School District on Wednesday night joined in the discussion of
creatine, the biggest rage in performance-enhancing substances since steroids.

Districts in the Milwaukee area as well as the Racine and Green Bay
districts also said they are developing policies or guidelines that will
prohibit coaches and other school employees from encouraging the use of the
body-building supplement.

The move comes in the wake of news reports about the growing use by high
school athletes of creatine, and high school coaches who were considering
buying it in bulk for athletes to use.

An Oak Creek High School coach, under pressure from parents and the School
Board, earlier this month voluntarily stopped supplying it to his athletes.

After seeing a story about the Oak Creek coach, Waukesha School Board member
William Domina asked administrators in his school district to investigate
whether creatine use was being promoted by Waukesha coaches. The nutritional
supplement was a topic of discussion on Wednesday night at the Waukesha
board's Policy Committee, which Domina chairs.

At the meeting, Superintendent David Schmidt said that with football players
gearing up for a new season, the time was right for the district to tackle
the issue.

"We will not have our coaches providing supplements for kids," Schmidt said.

Waukesha administrators, in interviews before the meeting, said coaches
don't encourage the product's use. In fact, Mark Hurlbut, the head varsity
football coach at Waukesha West High School, said he advised athletes at a
meeting in the spring not to use the product.

"I recommended they stay away from it. We're afraid of it because we don't
know the long-term effects," Hurlbut said.

Said David Rusch, the football coach at Waukesha South High School: "I don't
think it's been around long enough that I would deem it safe. I don't feel
you should use anything you can't get out of your normal diet and hard work."

The Green Bay School District will have ready in the fall a guideline that
prohibits coaches or employees from recommending the use of nutritional
supplements or being involved "in the dissemination of those products,"
Assistant Superintendent Daniel Nerad said.

The Racine district also is working on a policy that would direct coaches
not to recommend the use of supplements in cases where the long-term effects
of its use are not known, Superintendent Dennis McGoldrick said.

McGoldrick said discussions about creating a policy surfaced in the last few
weeks after officials learned one coach was telling young athletes about
creatine.

The Arrowhead School District in Waukesha County also will discuss whether
to create a policy, Superintendent David Lodes said.

"It's not a problem here, but you want to go on record that you have nothing
to do with it," Lodes said.

And the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District also is in the process of
creating a policy on the use of fitness supplements, including creatine.

John M. Box, superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District, said
Wednesday that creatine is on the the list of things to talk about with his
athletic director.

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, which earlier this year
denounced the use of creatine, is pushing coaches and athletic directors to
take a strong stance against it.

"We don't think anyone on staff -- coaches or trainers -- should be
encouraging or selling that substance," Donald E. Herrmann, the WIAA's
associate director in charge of sports medicine, said Wednesday.

He said the WIAA would be issuing a statement to coaches and athletic
directors before school starts that advises against using creatine. Herrmann
also said the issue would be discussed at a WIAA conference on Aug. 5 for
new athletic directors and at area meetings across the state in September
for coaches.

Creatine is a substance that is found naturally in beef, pork and fish.

Loading up on synthetic creatine can give athletes quick, powerful bursts of
energy. But the substance itself, usually taken in powder form, does not
supply the energy. Instead, the body -- in a series of steps -- converts the
creatine into another form to fuel the athlete's efforts. And creatine will
not work unless it is used with a strength-training program.

Numerous short-term health studies have shown no negative side effects,
although there have been anecdotal reports of dehydration, cramping,
gastrointestinal problems, and muscle soreness and tearing.

"It's reminiscent of steroids," Herrmann said. "Steroids were thought to be
the greatest thing to come down the pike. Then we learned they were
destroying livers."

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett