Straight Talk Is the Best Deterrent to Steroid Use

"I can't really help it if my parents are tall," Delery said. "To have a world where people accuse you because they don't really know if you're doing it or not . . . when some of us are working really hard to win and we're being labeled as cheating."

Steroid use among males can cause liver damage, testicle shrinkage, reduced sperm count, impotence, baldness, urination difficulties, breast development, an enlarged prostate and other problems. Girls who use steroids can grow facial hair or lose hair and experience disrupted menstrual cycles, altered genitals or deepened voices.

The expensive testing programs are no doubt useful as a deterrent, but some detect only certain steroids. And proportionally, few athletes are tested, making it a risk that some young athletes might consider taking. Steroids, and tips to avoid detection of their use, are readily available on the Internet. And despite the potential drawbacks, steroids work, although their starry-eyed users might be unhealthily focused on 10 Friday nights -- or four years of free college -- than 60 more years of good health.

The presentation from Pearl, a McLean High graduate, and Belk, who attended the now-closed Fort Hunt High in Alexandria and played at the University of Miami and for the Cleveland Browns, seemed to make an impression on the students, who asked pointed and smart questions.

That sort of frank give-and-take, more than the exercise of administering pricey tests whose merits are spotty, is probably the best way to address teen steroid use.

If you want to teach students about their bodies, take it to the student body.

"This needs to be talked about," said Belk, a former football coach at Washington-Lee and Coolidge. "This is not taboo."

Varsity Letter is a weekly column about high school sports in the Washington area. E-mail Preston Williams at williamsp@washpost.com.