In most cases, people use anabolic steroids in sports and exercise. Sportspersons, including athletes, bodybuilders, footballers and others, who put a lot of stake in improved performance on the field, resort to frequent usage of the drug. The same goes for those who wish to build muscles and cut down on body fat, thereby presenting themselves with well-toned physique.

Researchers have found that there is a growing tendency among youth to abuse anabolic steroids. In sport and exercise the phenomenon is known to be happening for quite awhile. But there are cases where apparently well-built persons too use the drug, believing that without it they will look small and insignificant. In medical parlance, it is called muscle dysmorphia, which surprisingly is prevalent in both men and female, though to a lesser degree in latter's case.

Even as anabolic steroids are known to cause less to grievous harm to health over short to long term of usage, what is equally true is that there are many myths surrounding its supposed ill-effect. One such is that anabolic steroids cause shrinking in penis and testicles. While that is true in short term, over long term the size returns to normalcy soon after exogenous androgen administration is halted. This is one reason why boys at tender age are never suggested to use the drug, for in their case the effect can be quite damaging.

Be that as it may, the fact that the drug can boost muscle size and ability to perform well in exerting games would mean that the use of anabolic steroids in sports and exercise is not going to go away forever. To that extent, the role of agencies to control the abuse of the substances is important.

And indeed that is the reason why the US Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 has been enacted to ban selling and using anabolic steroid and pro-hormone without relevant medical prescription. To what extent the new act is able to check the abuse of anabolic steroids in sport and exercise, while not unnecessarily preventing genuine medical reasons, remains to be seen.

This Article is Originally Published here: Anabolic Steroids in Sport & Exercise

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Image: International Quidditch Association

Quidditch, you will recall, was a fictional competitive sport for wizards and witches as depicted in the Harry Potter novels and films. But in 2005, students at Vermont’s Middlebury College adapted the fantasy brooms-and-spells game into a real-life competition—and now it’s a worldwide phenomenon.

More than 250 universities, high schools, and clubs in 33 countries have Quidditch teams, and on April 13, 2013, 80 of them—some from as far as Australia and France—descended on Kissimmee, Florida, for the sixth-annual Quidditch World Cup. These competitors may not fly around on broomsticks, but they do run with them between their legs.

Quidditch is a seven-on-seven, coed field game that combines elements of rugby, dodgeball, basketball, and capture the flag. Broomstick-straddling players run across a converted soccer field while trying to throw volleyballs into six hoops. It’s not as easy as it sounds—it’s a semi-contact sport in which opponents can knock each other off their broomsticks.

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But the MVP of each competition is the “Snitch”—an athlete given the task of protecting a special ball from being nabbed by the other side. A Snitch has free reign to run far outside the confines of the field (sans broomstick) and so can cover any-where from two to six miles during a single match. At the Quidditch World Cup, each Snitch will play six to 10 games in one day, notching up to 20 miles. Which is why at least half of certified Snitches (yes, there are Snitch Academies that endorse players for this position) have competitive cross-country or track backgrounds.

“Snitches need to have a high top speed, but they also need to be agile,” says Rainey Johnson, the self-proclaimed “original Snitch.” He would know: Not only did he help launch the Quidditch movement at Middlebury, but he was also the captain of the school’s cross-country team with an 8-K personal best of 26 minutes.

As for which legacy he’s most proud of? “Quidditch is the gift that keeps on giving,” Johnson says. “Just when I think it can’t get any bigger, it grows. I’m fortunate to have played a small role in creating a game that generates enthusiasm from thousands.”

 

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