CONTENTS

ARTICLE REVIEW:
LEVEL OF DRUGS USAGE AND SPORT PERFORMANCE IN MALAY SILAT
Topics
Page
1

INTRODUCTION

2.

WHAT TO FIND?

3
4
5

METHOD & STATISTICAL

RESULT AND FINDINGS
RELATIONS OF FINDINGS AND SPORT EDUCATION

4
6

6.

IMPROVING OR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS

10

CONCLUSION

11

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

ARTICLE REVIEW:
LEVEL OF DRUGS USAGE AND SPORT PERFORMANCE IN MALAY
SILAT
By:
1.

Vincent Parnabas from Faculty of Sport Science and

Recreation, University of Technology MARA (UiTM), Shah

2.

Alam, 40450 Selangor (Malaysia)

Mohamad Nizam Mohamed Shapie Seni Gayung Fatani

3.

Malaysia Association (Malaysia)

Julinamary Parnabas Institut Pendidikan Guru, Kampus
Darulaman, Jitra (Malaysia)

1.

INTRODUCTION

A drug is a chemical substance that, when absorbed into the body, can
alter normal bodily function.

Many drugs have been banned in sport if

they are deemed to provide an unfair advantage, pose a health risk, or are
seen to violate the spirit of sport. The use of banned drugs by athletes is
referred to as doping. TheInternational Olympic Committee (IOC), and
more recently, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have been leading
the way in the battle against drugs in sport.
From the beginning of time sports have been around. It is the
competition that everyone loves. The feeling of winning makes many
people do anything to achieve it. Even if this means one must cheat to
win.
Cheating is monitored in professional sports by the use of referees
or umpires. With the discovery of many nutritional supplements, many
new forms of cheating have arisen that cannot be monitored on the field.
Many players used and still use steroids to enhance their muscles so they
are stronger during game play. Many random drug tests have been
instituted to cut the number of people using steroids down. There are
many other supplements that basically do the same thing as steroids that
these players use. More and more are becoming illegal in professional
sports. And people still use them.

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

Illegal drugs to enhance ones performance are illegal, therefore

when people use them they are cheating. They have created an unfair
advantage for themselves illegally. These people using these drugs should
be banned from their sport. Professional sports players get paid to play a
sport. What more could they want? It is every kids dream. It they cannot
play with out cheating they should not have the privilidge of playing at
all.
There have been many cases in professional sports where athletes
have been caught for using illegal drugs that enhance their performance.
Often players even use illegal drugs that have no benefit on their
performance. These drugs are illegal to everyone, but it seems that when
professional athletes get caught using them they dont get as harsh of a
punishment as an average person because of their fame. It is
disappointing

to

see

professional

athletes

receive special

treatment because of their fame. They have a good profession; why would
they risk it by using drugs? As for the athletes who use illegal drugs to
enhance their performance, they should not even be considered athletes.
It is hard to believe that people would actually cheat just to win in
something. The thrill of winning would be gone because that person had
an unfair advantage against the other. How could a person be proud of
winning when they have cheated?
This article review will discuss the content of the research about
sports and performance enhancing drugs with the tittle of Level of Drugs
Usage and Sport Performance in Malay Silat by Vincent Parnabas,
Mohamad Nizam Mohamed Shapie and Julinamary Parnabas.

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

2.

WHAT TO FIND?

The aim of this research is to evaluate the motives of drug usage among
Silat athletes. Besides that the aim of this research is to correlate the
relationship between the level of drug usage and sport performance
among Malay Silat athletes. Drugs Usage Questionnaire was used which
comprised of reasons for taking drugs such as: need for achievement, in
order to avoid pain, gain strength, relax and avoid frustration. Besides
that, Sports Performance Questionnaire was used to evaluate the
participants performance in Silat.
Athletes may have several reasons for using drugs. An athlete may
want to: build mass, increase muscular strength and endurance, reduce
recovery time from injuries, strengthen muscles and/or bones, increase
delivery of oxygen to exercising tissues, mask pain, stimulate the body,
feel pressure to win, perform at a high level, to improve ones body image,
and personal desire to do well, relax and reduce weight. Many people
suspect that most probably there are many athletes in martial arts using
drugs for a maximum performance. However, there is a lack of research
on martial arts athletes to determine this. The nature of martial arts sports
increase muscular strength, endurance, sustain injuries and pain.
Therefore there is a tendency of martial arts sport athletes to use drugs
since most of the performance drugs are for bearing the pain, injuries and
enhancing endurance.
The fourth level of the Maslow hierarchy of need is self-esteem,
which plays an important role of athletes to consume drugs. Esteem level
3

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

includes achieving goals, becoming proficient at something, being able to

take charge of their own life, having a good status, dominance, selfrespect, and getting respect from others. Self-esteem includes a persons
desire to be successful, have prestige, develop self-respect, to be
recognized and approved by other people.

3.

METHOD & STATISTICAL

The sample consisted of 103 athletes, who voluntarily participated in this

study. The sample was drawn from athletes who competed in Malay Silat
in Majlis Sukan Universiti Malaysia (MASUM) or sports competitions
between Universities. All the athletes of Silat gathered in the sport fi eld
and were selected randomly to take part in the study.
Drugs Usage Questionnaire was used which showed the reasons for using
drugs. They included: achievement of better resuls (5 items), avoiding
pain (5 items), gaining strength (5 items), relaxing (5 items) and reducing
frustration and stress (5 items). Athletes indicated their responses to a
Likert-typed scale ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1).
Besides that, Sports Performance Questionnaire (10 items) was used in
this research to collect the data. The questionnaires were developed by
the researchers refer to the past studies and literature reviews. The
questionnaires were developed systematically and used a few times on
athletes. The results showed a very high reliability and validity. Systematic
development of the questionnaire for data collection is important to
4

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

reduce measurement errors-questionnaire content, questionnaire design

and format, and respondents. The Drug Usage Questionnaire and Sport
Performances Questionnaire were used in a study by Vincent Parnabas
among 115 athletes. Drugs Usage Questionnaire was used which showed
the reasons for using drugs. They included: achievement of better results
(5 items), avoiding pain (5 items), gaining strength (5 items), relaxing (5
items) and reducing frustration and stress (5 items). Besides that, Sport
Performance Scale was used to evaluate the level of sport performance
among Silat athletes in this study.
The results showed that the reason for taking drugs among Malay
Silat participants were the highest in order to avoid pain (mean= 3.51),
followed by better achievement (mean= 3.27), gaining strength (mean=
3.15) and relax (mean= 2.11). The Malay Silat respondents indicated
reducing frustration and stress as the lowest motive Malay Silat
participants were the highest in order to avoid pain, followed by better
achievement (mean= 3.27), gaining strength and relax. The Malay Silat
respondents indicated reducing frustration and stress as the lowest
motive (Table 3). Silat can be included as one of the painful sports since
every style of Silat incorporates multi-level fighting stances (sikap pasang)
[Anuar 1992]. Basically it is sport which requires learning fighting
techniques which are painful and a high risk sport since it can often cause
injuries. In order to achieve a high level in Silat, one requires practising of
fighting and defence techniques for months or years. Most of the drugs
have the capability to reduce or avoid pain in sports. For example,
anabolic steroids not only increase strength and power but also can
sustain pain. Narcotic Analgesics is another popular drug as a pain killer.
Even a Silat athlete with injuries and tissue damage, still can continue
practising sport with Narcotic Analgesics. Examples of Narcotic Analgesics
are morphine, opium, codeine and heroin. However, in the long period
most

the

drugs

can

cause

cancer,

heart

disease,

physical

and

psychological dependence, liver disease and death. In other words, users

deteriorate mentally and physically. Drugs vary widely in the effects they
have on users, they affect the nervous system in very different ways.
5

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

Some drugs alter the limbic system, and others affect the operation of
specific neurotransmitters across the synapses of neurons. For example,
some drugs block or enhance the release of neurotransmitter, others
block the reception or the removal of a neurotransmitter, and still others
mimic the effects of a particular neurotransmitter Since more than 45% of
the Silat Melayu athletes belong to high-income families, so most probably
they are able to afford to buy those drugs. Achievement was indicated as
the second highest motive to consume drugs. McClelland developed the
Achievement Motivation Theory, which explains that athletes are strongly
motivated to succeed in whatever they do, they are not motivated to
avoid failure, and do not think about failure at all.

4.

RESULT AND FINDINGS

The results showed the existance of a positive correlation between the

level of drug usage and sport

performance. Even though the usage of

6

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

drugs benefits the sport performance, but taking drugs is considered as

cheating and unfair, harmful (to users, clean athletes and society),
perversion

of

sports

(against

its

nature),

unnaturalness

and

dehumanization Furthermore, drugs harm the society (socially debilitating

effects of doping), cause coercion (taking risks with their health as a
consequences of being remain competitive) and contract violation (failing
to respect other competitors).
Drugs are unnatural and unethical, since sport performance is
valued as a natural performance. The results showed that the reason for
taking drugs among Silat participants was highest in order to avoid pain.
Besides that, the present research showed that taking drugs benefits the
Silat athletes in terms of increasing sports performance, but these are
cheating, foul play, unfair, dishonest and unsportsmanlike actions.
Furthermore, damaging effects on growth patterns and on psychosocial
development, even risk of death or permanent injury, are probable high
risks of taking drugs among athletes. The most difficult question is how
the sport psychologists and coaches are going to face the challenges to
curb these illegal activities in Silat?
The government, sport psychologists, counsellors, coaches and
sports bodies should play an important role to face the challenges to
overcomes the evil, drug-enhances among Silat athletes. Drug testing is
needed to protect athletes health and to achieve fair level field playing in
Silat Melayu. Mental skills training is the most obvious and valuable, which
sport psychologists can provide in order to prevent athletes from using
drugs to avoid pain and enhance performance. Sport psychologists should
play an important role to teach Silat athletes skills and strategies relate
to managing pain and enhancing performance without drugs. Silat
athletes

should

learn

mental

skills

to

manage

pain

and

performance from sport psychologists to combat the use of drugs.

sports

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

5.

RELATIONS OF FINDINGS AND SPORT EDUCATION

Sport is a physical activity which is performed for a competition, development of body and
mind, intelligence, brilliance, etc. It should be a pleasurable activity, yet most of the athletes
use narcotic to help them maximizing their attainments. They were giving high priority to
victory by using narcotic. It is obvious that narcotic has been used freely by a great number of
athletes and it has become todays world most depressing issue. Even though there are many
prohibitions of consuming narcotic for athlete, but this symptom seems to be increasing
instead of decreasing . Athletes tend to use narcotic than those who are not. One of the
reasons why narcotic use keeps increasing is due to the rapid expansion of the industries
itself. Narcotic use tends to be more apparent for athletes who are involved in soccer, hockey,
boxing, golf, archery, bowling, and shooting.
Our society views winning as something more important than the
game itself. Success in competition brings status, popularity and fame, not
to mention college scholarships. Today's athletes are looking for an
advantage over the competition that will help make them winners.
Unfortunately, the adolescents of today are caught up in this high stakes
competition frenzy. Because of this reality, teenage use of performance
enhancing drugs is growing evermore popular.
Performance enhancing drugs can be regarded in four classes:
androstenedione, creatine, anabolic steroids, and ephedra alkaloids. All of
these drugs are available over the counter with the exception of the
anabolic steroid class. Since 1994, these nutritional supplements are no
longer controlled by the FDA. As a result, there is no control over their
purity, efficacy, or distribution. In fact, most of these substances market
themselves to the general public as "safe" and "natural."
Androstendedione (Andro) and its derivatives DHEA and 19nortesterone are prohormones that convert in the liver to testosterone,
8

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

and come in pill form. It is uncertain the amount of adolescent usage of

these drugs, but most studies are quoting in the range of 2.5-5%
adolescent usage. A few years ago, Andro was brought to the forefront
when Mark McGwire broke the single season homerun record while using
this supplement. Initial studies indicated that these drugs did not raise
serum testosterone levels, but newer studies are noting that they do in
fact produce that effect if taken in higher doses. Data is also present to
indicate that serum levels of estrogens also increase with Andro.

The use of performance enhancing drugs in the modern Olympics is

on record as early as the games of the third Olympiad, when Thomas
Hicks won the marathon after receiving an injection of strychnine in the
middle of the race.1 The first official ban on stimulating substances by a
sporting organisation was introduced by the International Amateur Athletic
Federation in 1928.
Using drugs to cheat in sport is not new, but it is becoming more
effective. In 1976, the East German swimming team won 11 out of 13
Olympic events, and later sued the government for giving them anabolic
steroids.3 Yet despite the health risks, and despite the regulating bodies
attempts to eliminate drugs from sport, the use of illegal substances is
widely known to be rife. It hardly raises an eyebrow now when some
famous athlete fails a dope test.
In 1992, Vicky Rabinowicz interviewed small groups of athletes. She
found that Olympic athletes, in general, believed that most successful
athletes were using banned substances.
Much of the writing on the use of drugs in sport is focused on this
kind of anecdotal evidence. There is very little rigorous, objective
evidence because the athletes are doing something that is taboo, illegal,
and sometimes highly dangerous. The anecdotal picture tells us that our
9

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

attempts to eliminate drugs from sport have failed. In the absence of good
evidence, we need an analytical argument to determine what we should
do.
We are far from the days of amateur sporting competition. Elite athletes
can earn tens of millions of dollars every year in prize money alone, and
millions more in sponsorships and endorsements. The lure of success is
great. But the penalties for cheating are small. A six month or one year
ban from competition is a small penalty to pay for further years of
multimillion dollar success.
Drugs are much more effective today than they were in the days of
strychnine and sheeps testicles. Studies involving the anabolic steroid
androgen showed that, even in doses much lower than those used by
athletes, muscular strength could be improved by 520%. Most athletes
are also relatively unlikely to ever undergo testing. The International
Amateur Athletic Federation estimates that only 1015% of participating
athletes are tested in each major competition.
The enormous rewards for the winner, the effectiveness of the
drugs, and the low rate of testing all combine to create a cheating game
that is irresistible to athletes. Kjetil Haugen 7investigated the suggestion
that athletes face a kind of prisoners dilemma regarding drugs. His game
theoretic model shows that, unless the likelihood of athletes being caught
doping was raised to unrealistically high levels, or the payoffs for winning
were reduced to unrealistically low levels, athletes could all be predicted
to cheat. The current situation for athletes ensures that this is likely, even
though they are worse off as a whole if everyone takes drugs, than if
nobody takes drugs.
Drugs such as erythropoietin (EPO) and growth hormone are natural
chemicals in the body. As technology advances, drugs have become
harder to detect because they mimic natural processes. In a few years,
there will be many undetectable drugs. Haugens analysis predicts the
obvious: that when the risk of being caught is zero, athletes will all choose
to cheat.

10

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

The recent Olympic games in Athens were the first to follow the
introduction of a global anti-doping code. From the lead up to the games
to the end of competition, 3000 drug tests were carried out: 2600 urine
tests and 400 blood tests for the endurance enhancing drug EPO. From
these, 23 athletes were found to have taken a banned substancethe
most ever in an Olympic games. Ten of the mens weightlifting
competitors were excluded.
The goal of cleaning up the sport is unattainable. Further down the track
the spectre of genetic enhancement looms dark and large.

6.

IMPROVING OR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS

Sport that is based on the true spirit of sport that is, fair play is likely to
have strong preventive value in itself, without any additional elements. As
mentioned earlier, young people can develop many assets or protective
factors through involvement in sport based on fair play.
But because young people are exposed to many instances where
the spirit of sport may not be fully reflected, it will require serious,
ongoing attention to ensure that young people and those around them
demonstrate these values.
11

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

In last section of this research article, the researchers give some

ideas and suggestions how o overcome the problems of abusing drugs in
sports. As stated in the articles The government, sport psychologists,
counsellors, coaches and sports bodies should play an important role to
face the challenges to overcomes the evil, drug-enhances among Silat
athletes. Drug testing is needed to protect athletes health and to achieve
fair level field playing in Silat Melayu. Mental skills training is the most
obvious and valuable, which sport psychologists can provide in order to
prevent

athletes

from

using

drugs

to

avoid

pain

and

enhance

performance. Sport psychologists should play an important role to teach

Silat athletes skills and strategies relate to managing pain and enhancing
performance without drugs. Silat athletes should learn mental skills to
manage pain and sports performance from sport psychologists to combat
the use of drugs.
So, the result of this article can be applied to sports education in
improving or solving problems but the researchers do not have any power
to solve the problems, it is depends on the sport authorities and the
trainers how they train and educate the athletes and also depends on
athletes themselves either they want to have a brighter future or a dark
future.

7.

CONCLUSION

Most athletes take drugs to enhance their physical performance in an

attempt to prevent them falling behind other competitors, even if it does
12

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

mean damaging their health and risking their sports careers.

Other

athletes may use drugs to help them wind down and relax, to cope with
the pressures and stress associated with a constant battle to win all the
time, to boost their own self-esteem and confidence, to mask the pain of
certain sports injuries, to control and reduce weight, and to hide the use of
any other banned substances.
Lean mass builders are used by athletes to increase the growth of
muscle and lean body mass, to reduce recovery time after an injury, and
are sometimes used to reduce body fat. Examples of lean mass builders
include

anabolic

steroids,

beta-2

antagonists,

hormones (human growth hormone, hGH).

athletes

to

increase

alertness,

improve

and

various

human

Stimulants are used by

concentration,

increase

aggressiveness, decrease fatigue and shorten reaction time. Painkillers

are often used by athletes in order to mask the pain of an injury and so as
they can continue to compete and perform beyond that of their normal
pain threshold. The use of narcotics is banned in sports as they impair
athletes judgment where dangerous situations can not be detected.
Relaxants are used in such sports as archery where a steady hand is
required, and also by those athletes feeling excessive nervousness or
discomfort which is hard to overcome. Examples of relaxants often used
include alcohol, beta-blockers and marijuana.

Diuretics are often used in

sports such as wrestling where a certain weight restriction needs to be

met, as they remove water from the athletes body.In many cases masking
drugs are used by athletes in order to disguise the use and prevent the
detection of illegal classes of drugs in sport. One method of performance
enhancement used by athletes is blood doping. This involves removing
red blood cells from the blood and replacing those weeks later to increase
the overall number of red blood cells in the blood. This increases the
amount of oxygen that the body can therefore carry and is extremely
beneficial in long distance running.
Lean mass builders such as anabolic steroids can cause dangerous
increases in levels of cholesterol, heart attack, hypertension, stroke, liver
and kidney damage, jaundice, depression, aggression, mood swings, acne
13

Article Review: Level Of Drugs Usage And Sport Performance In Malay Silat

and skin disease, reduced sperm count and impotence in males, and
amenorrhoea

in

females.

Beta-2

antagonists

can

cause

nausea,

headaches, dizziness, muscle cramps and heart flutters, whilst other lean
mass builders such as the human growth hormone may be associated with
Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease, liver problems, heart disease and irregularities
in the processing of insulin.

Side effects of stimulants such as

amphetamines include increased heart rate, blood pressure and body

temperature, stroke, hypertension, agitation, anxiety and sudden cardiac
death.Strong prescription painkillers such as narcotics are also highly
addictive and can impair mental abilities. Relaxants such as alcohol and
marijuana

cause

impaired

judgement,

balance,

co-ordination

and

memory, hallucinations and drowsiness. Side effects of diuretics include

dehydration, dizziness, cramps, heart damage and kidney failure. Those
masking drugs used to prevent the detection of other banned substances
can cause severe allergic reactions, nausea and vomiting. The method of
blood doping is dangerous as it causes the blood to thicken and can lead
to hypertension, stroke, heart attack and sudden death.

14