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Putting on weight for football glory
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Overweight players are a cause of concern
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When the Desire Street Academy football team plays in a Louisiana state Semi-final playoff game Friday night, the Lions will feature three starting linemen who weigh at least 300 pounds and two others who weigh 270 and 280 pounds, reflecting a trend
in which high school players are increasingly reaching a size once seen almost exclusively among linemen in college and the N.F.L.
High school football rosters reveal weight issues that go beyond the U.S’ overall increase in obesity rates among children. Two studies this year, one published in The Journal of the American Medical Association and another in The Journal of Pediatrics, found that weight problems among high school football players far outpaced those of other male children.
Now coaches and researchers fear that some young athletes may be endangering their health in an effort to reach massive proportions and attract the attention of college recruiters.
While massive size may make a small number of players more attractive to recruiters, doctors and researchers say they are growing concerned about long-term health risks associated with being overweight and obese. Some advocate weight limits for high school football, similar to a cap of 285 pounds for wrestlers.
High school football players are participating in a sport that is becoming increasingly businesslike and pressure-filled, even though only six per cent of seniors go on to play in college.
Weight-training programs are essentially conducted year-round. Linesmen face pressure to keep up with counterparts who are getting bigger. They also face urging from coaches to gain or maintain weight and from parents who hope they might receive college scholarships.
For those who want to gain weight, legal dietary supplements are readily available and largely unregulated. Also, high school athletes who choose to use banned performance-enhancing drugs are unlikely to be caught; only three states have drug-testing programs, and they are not considered rigorous.
A similar kind of “fat race” is occurring among high school linesmen, leaving them at risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes, breathing difficulties like sleep apnea and increased susceptibility to stress fractures and muscle-joint pain, said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health.
“Clearly, players are getting bigger, but also fatter,” said Alexander, a pediatrician who has studied the increased size of football players. “They are putting themselves at risk of staying obese throughout adult life.”
Definitive national statistics are not available for high school players, Alexander said, but he noted that anecdotal evidence from various states was troubling.
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