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Show Thursday, July 26, 2007 Page 6 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN fr5 COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN ormeir AF assistant L hired 01 aComb Beky Beaton NORTH COUNTY Alpine resident and former American Fork assistant basketball bas-ketball coach Tim LaComb has been hired as director of basketball bas-ketball operations at BYU. The announcement was made June 27 by BYU mens basketball coach Dave Rose and completed all the staff changes for this winter. La-Comb La-Comb comes to BYU with 10 years of experience working with basketball programs at the university and high school levels. "1 am pleased to welcome Tim to our staff," Rose said. "He is extremely passionate about the game of basketball and has valuable experience in a variety of capacities that will serve him well as our operations opera-tions director. Tim is a quality person who already knows our conference. He is a great fit for our program." m f i This position represents the natural progression pro-gression from what; I've been doing. Here I'll have the chance to learn the business aspect of basketball as I climb another rung on the ladder." Tim LaComb ON JOINING THE BYU BASKETBALL STAFF LaComb, 37, comes to BYU from the University of Utah, where he served the past two seasons under Ray Giacoletti as video coordinator. He previously served as head student manager for two seasons at Utah from 1994-96 under Rick Majerus. He has six years of experience as an assistant high school coach in Utah, serving three seasons each at Lone Peak (1999-2002) and his alma mater American Fork (2002-05). LaComb was part of coach Doug Meacham's staff. "I have admired Coach Rose and his staff from a distance the past couple of years," La-Comb La-Comb said. "I look forward to this opportunity to contribute to the staff and do what I can to help build on the success they have already achieved." He said he did not expect to get the job but was very pleased when things came together. "I'm very happy. I couldn't be working around better guys," LaComb said. He explained that the position mainly involves administrative and logistical responsibilities. Among them will be overseeing oversee-ing and coordinating travel and acting as a liaison for the basketball bas-ketball program with the rest of the campus and the sports information office. "This position represents the natural progression from what I've been doing," LaComb said. ' Here I'll have the chance to learn the business aspect of basketball as I climb another rung on the ladder. "I'm very excited to be in a program that's doing so well and going in the right direction," direc-tion," he continued. "We have good kids in the program. We're going to play five games in France in August and that will give me the chance to get to know everybody better. "As the fifth member of the coaching staff I have limits on what I can do in that regard," LaComb added. "I will have some self -scouting responsibilities, responsi-bilities, including studying our film to see what we can clean up after the fact." A cum laude graduate in mass communicationspublic relations from the University of Utah, LaComb and his wife Rachel have three children, Alyssa, Sam and Anna. LaComb served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Boston, Mass., from 1989-91. at BYU , I f It 4 W i) STEVE C. WILSONUniversity of Utah Former Caveman assistant basketball coach Tim LaComb has been hired as the director of basketball operations at BYU. Fighting back a Locals Murphy, Stroshine part of program focused on educating youth athletes about dangers of performance-enhancing drugs gainst raids Jared Lloyd NORTH COUNTY TJie sports world is currently inundated with scandal. Dog fighting, a referee betting on games, arrests, suspensions, sanctions and other sordid tales have taken over the spotlight. And, of course, there's the ongoing saga of the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs. Baseball stars like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire and Rafael Palmeiro turned into controversial figures because of juicing in-vestigatioas, in-vestigatioas, and other major pro sports like football and basketball aren't immune to the controversy. Professional wrestling, track, cycling and even golf have also fallen under the dark cloud of suspicion because of steroids. With yet another high-profile star failing a drug test at the Tour de France this week, cycling is getting dangerously dan-gerously close to imploding over the doping scandal. The big question is what lessons les-sons are youth athletes learning learn-ing from the spotlight on performance-enhancing drugs? "The perception in baseball is that a lot of guys are doing it," said Utah County resident Dale Murphy, a former two-time two-time MVP for the Atlanta Braves. "If the perception by the youth is that professional athletes are doing it, we need to fight that." Murphy, who wrote a book called "The Scouting Report: Youth Athletics" that discusses some of the Issues facing youth sports, was brainstorming some ideas with friends when they came up with a proactive idea. They established the iWon't Cheat Foundation to encourage kids to decide that they are going go-ing to do things the right way. "Our goal is to educate these kids and teach them ways to excel legitimately," Murphy explained. "If steroids aren't the answer, then what is? Trainers say they can do it correctly (with targeted workouts), work-outs), whereas the shortcuts (i.e. drugs and questionable supplements) cause nothing but problems." That's what brought in trainer train-er David Stroshine, founder ownerdirector of performance at Academy for Maximum Performance Per-formance in Provo. "They had a philosophy and great information on the consequences con-sequences of steroid use, but they didn't have a solution," Stroshine said. "But there are programs out there that compete com-pete and do it the right way. "The body is an amazing machine and when you address the individual issues, amazing things can happea" According to the mission statement on the foundation's Web site, its "No. 1 goal is to have athletes at all levels of competition accept the chal- I ' , -P. ''.7 I . . - i fl V i' 'if" "It" i " - ' -' ., . , f J X . - - -; ' i; - Courtesy photos Above: Dale Murphy instructs a group of young players prior to a game in Burgess Park in Alpine. Below, Dale Murphy addresses the crowd before a Braves game about the importance of giving back to the game of baseball 'J jr lenge to compete ethically by committing to live with an attitude at-titude of Wont Cheat!'." To further that end, Stroshine, Murphy and others began making presentations to local high schools. They've already al-ready explained their program at Timpview and American Fork, and are a scheduled for a similar visit to Lehi in early August. "It's been very positive," said Murphy. "All of the coaches we've talked to have appreciated it and been glad to be involved. We understand that not every kid is having an issue but if we get the peers of the ones that arato commit to not cheating, it will change the culture." Caveman football coach Davis Knight said he felt the presentation carried a lot of weight. "They spent time with the athletes discussing the downside down-side of performance-enhancing drugs," Knight said. "They wanted to counter the negative nega-tive role models. The material wasn't based on what will happen hap-pen but more on that it was cheating. It encouraged them to stand up and do it the right way." Knight said that in his experience ex-perience this type of program is needed because kids can be susceptible to those telling them that steroids can help them. Stroshine said that's why it's important for athletes to realize they can get what they want without the aid of steroids. "These are good programs and we have a lot of confidence in what we do," Stroshine said. "We believe we can compete with anyone in the field to help people achieve their dreams." Although the main focus of the program started out as a method of keeping kids from using steroids, Murphy said it is branching out into other areas ar-eas as well. "It's become about ethics and a philosophy of life," Murphy said. "We talk about not cheating cheat-ing in athletics, in academics, at a job, on the field, and in life. Whenever you try to take shortcuts, you create more problems for yourself. The program pro-gram is really broadening out." Murphy, Stroshine and others who work with the program have big ideas about what it could accomplish. "We want to reach all youth in one way or another, but it's hard to do that one assembly at a time," Murphy said. "We want to have a bigger Internet presence and more sponsorship. sponsor-ship. This is a message that can't be overdone." Knight said he endorses the idea of getting that message to youth everywhere. "As a coach, you should make the time (to have your kids hear this information)," Knight said. The Utah High School Activities Activi-ties Association wanted to get a copy of the "I wont cheat" booklet in to the hands of every high school athlete, so they worked with Murphy and his partners to find some sponsors so they can distribute 60,000 of the pamphlets in Utah at no cost to the recipients. The program's reach already goes far beyond Utah, however. how-ever. Murphy appeared at the little League Baseball kickoff in Houston, Texas, in April, where 2,000 of the youth sports See STEROIDS, Page 7 1 While hard to know how much, steroids a threat in Utah Valley Jared Lloyd NORTH COUNTY Most people recognize the use of performance-enhancing drugs as it refers to professional profes-sional athletes. But how big of a problem is it in Utah Valley? Utah County resident Dale Murphy, former Atlanta Braves great and founder of the "iWon't Cheat" Foundation, Founda-tion, says it's hard to know just how steroids and other substances are impacting area athletics. "Nationwide, studies have shown that four to six percent of teens are using performance-enhancing drugs," he said. "I would imagine that the numbers would be similar in Utah. There's also research that shows they are beginning at a younger age. I feel it's a big enough concern that it needs to be addressed." American Fork head football foot-ball coach Davis Knight sees the problem in a similar fashion. fash-ion. "I don't have specifics but I heard that a few years ago, athletes would make trips to Tijuana and bring them back to sell," Knight said. "I don't have a percentage but I have a feeling that it's there, that there's a lot that goes on without with-out parents or coaches knowing know-ing about it." Trainer David Stroshine of Academy for Maximum Performance has only been working with athletes in Utah Valley for a couple of years and said that none of the people he's worked with have appeared to have an issue. "I don't have a lot of experience experi-ence with the local gyms but I believe that if someone wants it, they can find it," Stroshine said. "I don't know how prevalent prev-alent it is but I'm not naive enough to think that it's not in the area." The consensus is that though most youth athletes are trying to learn to play at the highest level without the use of steroids or other substances, sub-stances, the temptation is out there. Numerous resources are available online for those interested inter-ested in understanding more about the problem. Information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Enforce-ment Agency can be found at httpwww .usdoj.govdeacon-cernsteroids.html. I Jared Lloyd can be reached at 344-2552 or jlloydheraldextra.com. jPCN |