Body-build risk for teen rugby stars

eroo

By ALISON O'RIORDAN

Sunday February 22 2009

The Irish Rugby Football Union are developing an education programme throughout the underage system in schools, so great are concerns about the use of dangerous supplements like creatine amongst rugby-playing school boys.

Ruth Wood-Martin, the IRFU Performance Nutritionist said: "We actively discourage the use of supplements in underage players and we are developing a programme that will focus on how eating and drinking well is the most effective nutrition strategy to support hard training and quick recovery."

After routine drug testing was carried out at an under-18 Six Nations Championship match in Cork last year, there are now calls for the anti-doping committee of the Irish Sports Council to investigate under-age sport at a national level.

As rugby schools 'go to war' and young players bulk up on sports supplements and performance-enhancing drugs, the fear is that they may be harming themselves in the long term.

A former leading school-rugby star says: "Many players don't take supplements correctly and some people as young as second and third year had no notion of where products such as no-xplode, armagedin, norateen and creatine came from.

"Some are safe to be using if regulated properly but if taken in large doses they can be harmful. If they hear that people are using it, then that's usually good enough for them and long-term effects don't come into it."

He explained that there is huge pressure within the school rugby system to perform -- so the desire is there on the part of students to get an extra edge on muscle mass which a supplement can offer. "The impression is out there that if you have a 'big' team you will win and in some cases games masters turn a blind eye. We knew of side effects but everyone thinks 'that's not going to happen to me'."

Protein supplements and creatine are available in health food shops around the country online and some students even set up their own businesses within the school, oblivious to the long-term muscle damage when taken by children under the age of 18.

It was reported on the Off the Ball show on Newstalk last week that an advertisement for supplements was recently removed from a school notice-board. According to a recent article, the vast majority of these mixtures are unregulated and an ongoing study in the US found that 75 per cent of them contained banned substances such as anabolic steroids. Leading personal trainer Marc Smith believes the problem is growing rapidly and evidence is the remarkable difference in size between the school boys of a few years ago compared to those of today.

"Young boys are trying to lump on muscle. They see the internationals and want to be as big as them with weight and protein supplements as the means to an end. It's one dimensional and they believe these are the ingredients to make them better rugby players but it is destroying them and they will feel the effects in years to come.

"These protein and body building shakes they are bulking up on, no ones knows where they are coming from. Some say the ingredients are thrown into a cement mixer to mix them up."

Exercise and performance specialist Niall Hobbert asks how many of the schools are hiring in professional or qualified people to train the teams safely and he doesn't mean qualified rugby coaches but qualified strength and conditioning coaches, sports doctors and sports nutritionists. He said: "Through my experience I see misguided players who are physically imbalanced, nutritionally misguided and injury prone and who are led to believe what they are doing is right because they trust in their coaches and teachers."

The same young rugby player I spoke to severely damaged his shoulder because of a poor weights programme he was given from his school coach which resulted in him being away from rugby for some time. "A proper weights programme, diet and training combined will make a better player. The sooner the players realise one can't get all the ingredients that make a great rugby player out of a bottle the better," he said.

- ALISON O'RIORDAN

I've seen a good few articles similiar to this in recent years. Just wondering is supplement use as widespread in schools rugby as reported? To be fair, a good bit of the above article is utter kack but.. 2nd and 3rd years bulking up? That's just wrong if it does happen in certain schools. What are your opinions?

Stev_o

eroo wrote: »

I've seen a good few articles similiar to this in recent years. Just wondering is supplement use as widespread in schools rugby as reported? To be fair, a good bit of the above article is utter kack but.. 2nd and 3rd years bulking up? That's just wrong if it does happen in certain schools. What are your opinions?

I dunno if they have 2nd or 3rd years bulking up and if they do it's a bit weird to say the least. Think its mostly during 4th year they do their bulking up programmes i think. It's funny thing is that professional rugby players are being moved away from taking supplements and into more organic foods

"To this end, players are increasingly being steered away from protein shakes and supplements and towards foodstuffs of greater quality, such as organically reared meat and free-range eggs. “A lot of the lads have their own butchers that they go to now, rather than buying their meat from the supermarket,” Steve Walsh, the head of athletic performance at Sale Sharks, said. “I'll say to them, 'Would you rather have a protein shake or three poached free-range eggs on wholemeal toast?' It's much better for their bodies to stay away from the processed stuff.” "

eroo

eroo wrote: »

I've seen a good few articles similiar to this in recent years. Just wondering is supplement use as widespread in schools rugby as reported? To be fair, a good bit of the above article is utter kack but.. 2nd and 3rd years bulking up? That's just wrong if it does happen in certain schools. What are your opinions?

Absolutely widespread.Its not even for rugby half the time but to get the girls.

The size of some of the backs playing these days has to be seen to be believed,in Dublin anyway.You dont see on tv but in the flesh alot will be twice the width of grown men in the stands.

Chucky the tree

This is the only piece of the article that is actually worth taking on board.

Exercise and performance specialist Niall Hobbert asks how many of the schools are hiring in professional or qualified people to train the teams safely and he doesn't mean qualified rugby coaches but qualified strength and conditioning coaches, sports doctors and sports nutritionists. He said: "Through my experience I see misguided players who are physically imbalanced, nutritionally misguided and injury prone and who are led to believe what they are doing is right because they trust in their coaches and teachers."

The rest of the article is complete toss, creatine's a dangerous supplement now? :rolleyes:

eroo

Chucky the tree wrote: »

This is the only piece of the article that is actually worth taking on board.



The rest of the article is complete toss, creatine's a dangerous supplement now? :rolleyes:

Couldn't agree more mate, thought the exact same when I read it. I doubt many schools would be able to afford to hire a S+C Coach though.

Chucky the tree

Chucky the tree wrote: »

This is the only piece of the article that is actually worth taking on board.



The rest of the article is complete toss, creatine's a dangerous supplement now? :rolleyes:

Im pretty sure if you abuse it,then it can be.

Its more the crap like no-explode,animal pak,norateen etc ,that have to be watched.

amacachi

Snorting or melting down creatine for injecting can be dangerous I'm sure.

The problem to me seems to be a lack of knowledge on the coaching level about getting stronger/bigger. There should be strength work started from an early age for the players who seem to be in it for the long run. Legal supplements are no problem whatsoever, would be great if people training hard ate a few chicken fillets a day instead, but it's just not realistic.

Seeing the difference between Irish and southern hemisphere players at ~U20s is astounding. But I suppose all the big New Zealanders and Australians will die from an overdose of Creatine at 25:rolleyes:

Stev_o

amacachi wrote: »

Snorting or melting down creatine for injecting can be dangerous I'm sure.

The problem to me seems to be a lack of knowledge on the coaching level about getting stronger/bigger. There should be strength work started from an early age for the players who seem to be in it for the long run. Legal supplements are no problem whatsoever, would be great if people training hard ate a few chicken fillets a day instead, but it's just not realistic.

Seeing the difference between Irish and southern hemisphere players at ~U20s is astounding. But I suppose all the big New Zealanders and Australians will die from an overdose of Creatine at 25:rolleyes:

You don't have too go that far at the U-18 WC in Cork last year the size between a Irish prop and a Welsh prop was ridiculous. The Welish lads tipped 19 or so stone to 16 stone for the Irish lads.

Chucky the tree

eroo wrote: »

Couldn't agree more mate, thought the exact same when I read it. I doubt many schools would be able to afford to hire a S+C Coach though.

All the top private schools could afford a S+C coach, or even hire one out to do 1-2 sessions per week or a sports nurtrionist to give a one off talk on supplemts and the best way to use them.

Vaughn Tasty Drummer wrote: »

Im pretty sure if you abuse it,then it can be.

Its more the crap like no-explode,animal pak,norateen etc ,that have to be watched.

If you abuse anything it's bad for you though, I doubt dropping the protein shakes inplace of 20 eggs per day is advisable either. I disagree that Noxplode is harmful either if taken correctly. Journalist like Alison would be much better off writing an article on recommend supplement use in a safe and healthy way rather then re-hashing a load of bull**** lies and getting a couple of qoutes from clueless people like Marc Smith.

amacachi

Stev_o wrote: »

You don't have too go that far at the U-18 WC in Cork last year the size between a Irish prop and a Welsh prop was ridiculous. The Welish lads tipped 19 or so stone to 16 stone for the Irish lads.

Aye, forgot about the 6 nations match between Scotland and Ireland this year, the scottish lads' thighs looked about 30% bigger than the irish lads'. There's a culture in this country especially among the over 30's of NO! to supplements or lifting weights. Which is fine if we don't mind constantly having young players coming through who then have to bulk and strengthen up when other countries' players can be out gaining valuable, competitive experience, rather than losing out in every arm wrestle and having to refocus on strength training again. Never mind how much easier it is to get stronger at an earlier age.

damnyanks

We started circuit and gym work at 14 (second year). The coach didnt ask us to take creatine but he discussed it (read between the lines). That was over a decade ago, however we were given more advice for our diet(lots of chicken, no battered fish)

Sangre

I'd love to be a journalist someday. They seem to live in world where a lack of knowledge on a subject is a requisite rather than a barrier to tackling a subject. The woman has probably never picked up a dumbbell in her life.

Creatine is a dangerous supplement know? Better stay away from my red meat so.

Nothingcompares

damnyanks wrote: »

We started circuit and gym work at 14 (second year). The coach didnt ask us to take creatine but he discussed it (read between the lines). That was over a decade ago, however we were given more advice for our diet(lots of chicken, no battered fish)

Same here more or less. I know when I was playing Junior cup rugby 10 years ago there was one or two guys (at least but perhaps not many more) that were taking creatine and protein supplements. We won that year.

I'd be more concerned about the kids eating crisp sandwiches for lunch than the few kids supplementing their mediocre diets with protein shakes.

Serenity Now!

Stev_o wrote: »

You don't have too go that far at the U-18 WC in Cork last year the size between a Irish prop and a Welsh prop was ridiculous. The Welish lads tipped 19 or so stone to 16 stone for the Irish lads.

Erm...thats more because he was actually just a big fella. The prop you were referring has lined out for Magners League. A lot of that Welsh side will have been playing decent club level competition too and not farting about in a limited schools tournament. They also have a larger underage playerbase than Ireland so choice is greater.

On a more pedantic matter, by the way, that wasn't a World Cup. It wasn't even a Six Nations. It was a festival. Not every team got to play each other.

Colm_OReilly

Squats and Milk. Really that's all these boys need.

The energy requirements of putting on muscle and recovering from the exercise required to do it is quite high, so a calorie dense substance like milk is ideal for the kids.

Also, chopping down on eggs upon eggs is in no way harmful to the kids, especially compared to the crap they can and do eat.

I can flesh this out more if needs be.