The Alcohol/Athlete Relationship

The topic of use and abuse of alcohol by professional athletes has received a fair amount of exposure recently. The questions revolve essentially around why athletes drink as much as they do, whether or not alcohol abuse harms their careers, and what we can do to eliminate or minimize the amount of drinking that goes on. Because of an absence of formal research on the drinking habits of athletes, my comments are speculative in nature, but do serve to make us consider the context of drinking in Sport.

The rationalization that drinking beer replaces the lost body fluids from exertion during a game is not a particularly valid argument. Beer has an alcohol content which simply serves to further dehydrate the body tissues. Athletes drink beer following a game not so much because they're thirsty (water or Gatorade would do as good a job or better in replacing lost body fluids and electrolytes), but because it is a social habit which they've acquired over the years.

The fact that alcohol acts as a relaxant following the stress, tension, and exertion of a hard-fought, pressure laden game is probably true. We know the effect of alcohol is to inhibit neural activity in the brain alcohol thus serves to depress one's consciousness and cause a feeling of being relaxed. In professional and top amateur sport where winning is all-important, the athlete is under constant pressure to succeed and he carries this pressure with him into the dressing rooms, cocktail lounges, and bars long after the game is over. Drinking thus becomes almost a conditioned response to somehow relieve or reduce this feeling of pressure. To my knowledge, few if any athletes drink before a game, so this lends credence to the tension-reduction explanation for drinking following a game.

Probably the most intuitively valid reason for drinking in sport is the fact that drinking is a social habit which athletes acquire over the years spent in their sport. Hockey in Canada is the major sport in the small towns and cities across the country. When the game is over, players, fans, friends, spectators and even the officials all retire to the only social centre most towns have-the bar. These people do not necessarily go to the bar to get drunk but rather to socialize. Athletes, in general, are highly extroverted and as a result have strong needs for social companionship, friendly gatherings, and fun situations. Thus, they congregate where the action is. Such behavior occurs early in an athlete's life and over the years, he becomes conditioned into going to the bar after the game. We cannot expect the professional hockey player on the road to go back to his hotel room and stare at the walls. Neither can we expect the younger athlete to forsake all his friends and go home by himself when the game or practice is over. This is the major reason for drinking in sport - its connection to the social scene.

The cause of drug abuse in sport is probably the same. The solutions to the drug and alcohol abuse problems in both sport and society are also the same as they have always been. Our young people need more education on the dangers of alcohol and other drugs. Counseling for people caught in the trap is needed, as well as options for social activities. Young athletes who find themselves in the glaring public spotlight of big time sport need support from their trainers and coaches who know of the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse.

For additional information, please contact one of the following Addictions Services Offices.