Bill passes curbing sports supplements.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

A bill that bars school coaches from recommending or selling nutritional supplements or performance enhancers to their athletes is on its way to the governor for final approval.

The measure, Senate Bill 517, also prohibits coaches from endorsing the use of anabolic steroids, which are barred in organized sports and illegal unless prescribed by a physician. The measure does not impose penalties for violators, but coaches presumably could be subject to school disciplinary rules covering violations of school policy and state law.

"We're very pleased," said Michael Wallmark, assistant executive director of the Oregon School Activities Association. "We were strongly in support and testified in favor of this bill. We believe it's in the best interest of high school athletes to not have coaches in the business of distributing substances to them."

The legislation was drawn up in response to a 2003 incident in which then-South Eugene High School football coach Chris Miller coach was found to be selling the legal, over-the-counter supplement creatine to student athletes. The former NFL quarterback, now the executive director of Kidsports, was ordered to cease.

Creatine and androstenedione are among performance-enhancing substances targeted by the legislation. It bars not only coaches but volunteers and any other school employees from promoting, endorsing or providing either supplements or steroids to student athletes.

It also requires coaches and athletic directors to receive training every four years on detecting steroid abuse and avoiding the use of performance-enhancing supplements. And it requires that similar information be incorporated into school programs for kindergarten through high school.

A similar bill was introduced in the 2005 Legislature and approved by the Senate, but it failed in the House. Legislators there called it too broad.

The bill was reintroduced this session with minor changes - it eliminated a possible three-month jail term and $500 fine for violators - and passed the Senate unanimously in March. It passed the House 50-9 on Wednesday.

House members who opposed the measure said it remains too broad. Rep. Bruce Hanna, a Roseburg Republican whose seat includes much of eastern Lane County, said the language probably makes it illegal for a coach to offer an athlete a cup of coffee.

Hanna said that's because of how the law defines a performance-enhancing substance. The definition covers a stimulant, herb or other substance that is "intended to increase athletic performance, promote muscle growth, induce weight loss or increase an individual's endurance or capacity for exercise."

"That was so broad ... a coach couldn't even recommend that an athlete drink a Powerade or a Gatorade," he said. "We send people to school, we teach them to be educators and coaches, they learn about sports nutrition and then they can't participate in that. You're training people to do a job and you're not letting them do it."

Hanna stressed that he strongly favors a prohibition addressing illegal steroids.

Supporters said the bill draws an important and necessary line between being a coach and being a medical adviser.

"This is an attempt on the part of the Legislature to make certain everyone understands it is the policy of the state of Oregon that coaches do not encourage this sort of thing," said Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, who voted in favor of the bill. "Student athletes are very vulnerable in the sense that they want increased performance, they want to do their very best.

`And it's the job of the adults working with them that that stays in perspective, that students' long-term health is respected."

Wallmark said the OSAA has long history of opposition to steroid use but acknowledged that the supplement issue moved to the forefront after the Chris Miller episode. And he noted that not all coaches have the background Miller has with supplement use.

"We're not pointing fingers at any particular coach, but we want our coaches to be assisting students with their skills, their athletic activities that will improve them physically," he said.

"When it comes to food supplements or anything they would be taking other than normal nutrition, they're moving into areas that an expert needs to be involved in, and many of our coaches are not experts in that area."