Too much too soon.... for sure

Of note this week was the Jonny Spelman story. It was worthy of our attention for a number of reasons.

Parents

The, as per the media reports, 'son of a minister' made Jonny high profile. With mum, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, being reported as considering kicking his sorry ass out on the street you have a high ranking government official with a son on steroids. The Daily Mail reports that she had spent £60,994 trying to keep the story quiet. A judge ruled otherwise.

He's been banned

He was already 'serving' a 21-month ban for use of steroids having been caught by the under 21 rugby authorities. Keep in mind he's only now 17 so I'll assume he was 16-17 when he was caught (the Mirror says he was caught last year and banned until 2013).

He 'outed' himself via the net

In the case of his coming to our attention it was by virtue of the benefits of YouTube. He, we are told, put up a video asking for help with his dream of becoming the next British Mr Olympia and requesting help with supplements. He appears to be so hard up (for a guy who's been at a 10k a term school) that he suggests he's prepared to do private videos for those supporting him (another topic for a different day) of him working out. 

As someone born before the age of Iphones and Ipads etc I am amused somewhat by the speed of the advance of technology and the idea of how he managed to drop himself in the shit, as it were, via an internet video. It does of course question the wisdom of attempting to keep it quiet via the courts when (as per the protein scandal article) all the info is or was already in the public domain. Basically, if you put stuff out for all to see (say by not making images on facebook private), then you're asking for a knock back when you change your mind. 

His ignorance

I am bothered by one report of his apparent lack of knowledge of what he's doing - if indeed he is using steroids as it might be some sort of pro-hormone - as he was found to have been asking on one site about intravenous injections of steroids. Steroids used by body-builders etc are NOT injected into veins but the muscle. I suppose that the idea that he was at least asking for advice can be seen as a positive but there are a number of simple steroid injecting sites which make it quite clear without the need to ask what looks like a daft and dangerous question.

His fucking age

If we set aside any moral and legal arguments we get the bare bones of my view - he's just too fucking young. Why is he on steroids in his teens? Again and again in on-line forums older and hopefully wiser heads point out to those they know the age of that when you're in your teens your testosterone and for that mater GH (growth hormone) levels are pretty healthy. Any one with a few years under their belts will tell you how hormonally rampant they was once their balls dropped

This transformation, not aided in anyway, of us as youths into men (if only physically) does NOT need any help. Jonny should have known this by virtue of his education and his already noticeable sporting prowess. His excuse for starting roids and GH was, as per many other top pros, aiding recovery form a sporting injury on the rugby field. He does, based on the competition result (2nd in his class at one event) and on-line photos, posses a tidy physique.

The biggest issue is, once again, one of the potential for yet more un-needed attention and negative publicity for a sport that suffers enough with the same. That people can now accuse the sport of encouraging teenagers (daft ones to boot) to use steroids without getting into unsavoury videos is more than we need. 

I'll make it simple for the reader - in my opinion you do NOT need to use so early. I will not get into the moral arguments favoured by many of whether there should be any need or recreational use. My personal experience of the same is well known - I was more or less middle aged (37) via the on-line medium so I can't argue against its use full stop. But when lads (not men) are using at age 16... that's just daft.