
Originally Posted by
SprinterOne
I may be in the minority on this one, but I feel the other side of the coin needs to be discussed. Anyways, take it how you will...
Welcome to the world of athletics. You think guys at the top make it to the top because at some point they decided it was good enough? It's never good enough, it never can be good enough. Good enough equals time to quit. This may be hard to understand if you don't have that type of personality, but the people who do have it understand exactly what I mean.
Unless you have experienced this you can't even begin to pretend to understand. It really becomes a matter of life or death. Not reaching your goal would be no different then dying, because your whole reason for living was to reach this goal. Sound absurd? Perhaps, but it is true. Take for example the 72 Olympics in Munich. Terrorists broke into the Olympic village and took 8 athletes hostage. To cut the story way short, in the end all the terrorists and all the athletes died. Yet even after this all the Olympic events went on and all the athletes competed. The athletes were focused on a single goal and nothing, not even an event like the one described, could stop them. This is the mindset of the elite athlete.
Now, in regards to your cousin, there are 2 questions that need to be asked. First, how important is it to him to reach his goals? If he didn't reach his goals, how would that impact him? This is something only he can answer and he has to look deep inside and draw out the real answer. Second, how realistic are his chances of reaching this goal if he doesn't use steroids or if he does use steroids. Only then can you begin to weigh the risk to reward ratio and make the right decision. And only your cousin, as much as it may pain you, can make that decision. It is his and his alone. If you really care about him you would force him to look inside and make the decision on his own. Ask him the right questions, educate him with an OPEN MIND, and allow him to come to the decision he must come to. If he does decide to use, I really hope you educate him on what to take so he does it as safely as possible.
Who are you, the steroid police? He has told you something that I am sure he trusted you to keep secret, and you want to run out and tell his parents? Then on top of it you want to tell on all his teammates, thus making him a snitch in his teammates eyes and doing more damage then steroids ever could (but hey, at least he would grow to his true size). Also, think about the damage it would do to your relationship, is it worth it? It's not like he is thinking of using crack or heroine.
If everyone is using his chances will be hurt just by not using.
Anyways, that's all I got for you, good luck.