#NCAAappeal

[me-mindfulexistence]

Set Up For Failure....An NCAA Appeal.

“Sometimes in life to WIN BIG....You have to bet it all on green.” This was my motto during the last few months as we prepared my son’s appeal to face the implacable NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION bringing in over a billion dollars of revenue annually.... originally established to ‘protect’ athletes...but over a century later is now an athletes worst nightmare.

Many of the people in our everyday lives had no idea this was going on....a few were privy to the dirty secret...and a plethora have heard whispers about it...and one player even blurted it out during the end of season banquet in the actual movie montage of the seniors giving shout outs to their former buddies....“Hock failed his drug test”. In the movie! (to say I was disgusted at that very moment is an understatement) 

During this time my father in law was having major health problems....so my husband Ron decided he just couldn’t tell them. It was out of the question...the last thing he wanted was to add to their worries...FYI-if you want to know a couple of key characteristics about Ron it’s this: he has a stronger work ethic than anyone I know and he puts family above all else. No matter how tired or sick he might be...it will never stop him from helping and working harder.....He works at the farm (many mornings he starts his day around 1:30 or 2am, gets home by 5:30am takes a short nap followed by a full day of work, gets home around 7-8pm at night and does it all over again the next day. Sleep is in sparse increments....b/c even when he could ‘rest’....his mind would just ‘race’ with thoughts of ‘what if’.  

As you can see with my ‘blog’ I’m pretty transparent. I don’t do well keeping things bottled up. So after internalizing all of this for a good month “Keeping it in the immediate family”....I had a feeling of anxiety that was unbearable (It didn’t help that during this time I was dealing with my company being taken over and had the looming ‘lay off’ over my head....along with the 4 other teenagers in the house making their own everyday ‘waves’ we had to deal with that had nothing to do with Zack’s situation)...and one day when I was at work my Dad called about something totally unrelated and I just started weeping uncontrollably like a baby. I still hadn’t initially reveled what was going on...but he assured me that I could tell them anything without judgement....so later that night I went over and unburdened myself with all of the information along with every other thing ‘doing’ in the house. It was therapeutic for sure. 

Our kids felt just as strongly as we did. They “KNEW” Zack was innocent...but I reminded them that the punishment doesn’t always fit the crime. The world isn’t a perfect place. Sometimes things aren’t fair...but we were sure going to do our best trying to fight this. For everyone’s sake.

This is our story.

Back in early November of 2016 Zack received an email from his head coach that he was chosen for the ‘random’ NCAA drug screen (as many of the players expect...especially the seasons of Spring and Fall). Zack went into the test without worries. He lives a clean lifestyle with only occasional use of protein whey. So a few weeks go by post drug test and now it’s the very beginning of December. He gets a call from his coach while he’s in yoga class (so he can’t answer). The coach continues to text Zack that he needs a call back ASAP.  Zack at this point figures his coach found out he had an MRI on his knee and was upset he didn’t tell him about it.  

Zack calls him back and hears “your drug screen came back positive for a P.E.D....You tested positive for a substance called Ostarine”.  To clarify- P.E.D stands for -Performance Enhancing Drug and “Ostarine” is a form of S.A.R.M’s (selective androgen receptor modulator)

https://www.evolutionary.org/ostarine-mk-2866-anabolic-steroids/ 

Ostarine is something comparable to steroids but not illegal to purchase or consume for someone who is not a collegiate athlete. Zack (and his coach) were both completely shocked. Zack was not only in disbelief but he was sure the test must be ‘wrong’. He called us immediately and told us the news.  Ron tends to be more level headed and positive...but I was being objectively negative.  I said “there is no way out of this...you’re done whether you did it or not. There’s no way you’re going to be able to prove you didn’t do this”.  Zack explained that he knew his roommate had been taking a “SARM” but he didn’t know it was Ostarine until he texted him and asked following the positive result.....but there was still the question of how did it get in Zack’s system.  He was told there was an appeal process that started with getting another part of the SAME sample retested....the ”Part B” of the specimen. It’s basically rerunning all the same tests a second time on the second half of the original sample in case something rogue went wrong in the process of the first one.  Zack was banking on this....he was confident the second test would show something different.  I assured him this was a very detailed science and that specific substance was not going to magically become nonexistent in the 2nd testing. Zack and Ron are both half glass full guys and they just kept telling me to ‘think positive’.  Ron understood what I was saying and wasn’t disagreeing  but he felt strongly he had to keep Zack’s spirits up. All this was happening during the last week of the semester when Zack was taking finals. It was important to try and put his mind at ease. Putting my mind at ‘ease’ was a different story and virtually impossible.....

After a few more weeks of waiting through the holidays (not hearing anything) Zack gets the call confirming the Part B sample was also positive and he was officially suspended from the team for an entire year and would lose a year of eligibility...along with the undertone whispers of being the ‘PED’ user. It was a nightmare. To see someone who has always worked so hard to have everything come crashing down was heart wrenching. At this point Zack really started to narrow down how he could have unknowingly ingested this substance. His roommate had one bottle and he really only saw him take it once....and it was out of a dropper.  Zack asked if he took it with anything else besides the dropper.....and the roommate said he used a 2oz vitamin cup sometimes b/c it was easier to ‘get it down’.  Apparently the Ostarine is so foul tasting that taking 5-6 drops was nastier then one swig with a water chaser. Zack immediately realized he also used this cup a few times to take Nyquil during early November b/c he had  a bad upper respiratory infection but the cup appeared empty and clean. This was the only explanation the boys had....

Zack was told by his coach that there was one more level of appeal. He had 45 days to submit an ‘explanation’ to the NCAA committee along with any other information or documents that would assist with his case.  I immediately started reaching out to any resources I had. One is a great training partner who is a lawyer. I explained the situation in tears and he tried to calm me down....He then gave me some good advice on how it could go and what information may be needed. It was so overwhelming.  I discussed it with Ron and he also got in touch with his childhood friend and lawyer (Chris Moyer) who referred him to someone else who had experience with similar cases (but not necessarily involving the NCAA....Good Luck finding a lawyer with this experience. They are few and far between). So we reach out to Bonnie Hoffman ( At Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller associates in Philadelphia PA ) 

Bonnie spoke to us on the phone and let us know her fee’s and what it would entail...and that “winning” these appeals is rare (as I already knew). It was going to be an “uphill battle...and there was no guarantee”.  Zack was on the call and as much as he wanted to fight with every ounce of his being he also didn’t want to put us out financially....but in our heads-what was the alternative?  Let him remain guilty and take the punishment for something he swears he didn’t do with a legacy of being a drug user cheating the system? So after a quick family meeting we made the decision to retain Bonnie’s services. 

First Bonnie needed Zack’s explanation. We all had NO IDEA if this was even plausible. Could that even cause the positive reading? We weren’t scientists and we just didn’t know.  I personally had a conspiracy theory. I was thinking he’d been drugged by someone who had a grudge against him. I mean, this has to happen somewhere to someone...Zack can’t be the only collegiate athlete testing positive for something he/she didn’t take.....Anyway- Bonnie takes Zack’s story to process with her assistant. We were given a ‘to do’ list.  We needed Zack’s statement, a statement from the roommate, statements from the coaches (all of which were very supportive of Zack), his trainer (who was a big advocate), and Zack’s orthopedic surgeon (stating he saw no signs of PED use).  We then told Bonnie Zack was insistent on taking a polygraph AKA “Lie detector test”.  Both the school and Bonnie were on the fence about it. They didn’t know if it would really help or if the NCAA would “allow it”.  We didn’t care.  We wanted it. We wanted to have something scientific showing there were no physical signs of deception. Bonnie did lots of research and found one of the best guys in the country- Michael Martin the owner and president of Global Polygraph. This man has an impressive resume with 30 years of experience and many high profile cases from the Columbine Massacre to Jon Bonet Ramsey. He met Zack, Ron and Bonnie at the Philadelphia airport where Zack spent 3+hrs performing the test. He was hooked up to machines and asked many times if he knowingly consumed Ostarine. He answered “NO”.  The test was scored 3 different ways....It took 1 week for the report and it was agonizing. I knew he was telling the truth but how did I know what this machine would be detecting from my 19 year old son.  When the results came back- there was NO DECEPTION DETECTED.    We were elated with excitement..... Zack’s response was very matter of fact... “I knew that would be the result”.

Next Bonnie asked if we’d consider paying for an experts testimony.  She let us know upfront it could be costly and they didn’t even know if they’d be able to find anyone...but they were going to try. We really didn’t have to think about it b/c we needed every piece of evidence possible...so we agreed.  Within a week or so Rob (Bonnie’s assistant) had found Dr. Don Catlin....the founder of modern drug testing in sports, CEO of anti-doping research and the former head of the UCLA Olympic drug testing lab that was doing the NCAA drug testing. Dr Catlin’s CV is 30 PAGES LONG! The Dr spoke with Bonnie and Rob first about fee’s and what the situation was. Next would be setting up the phone conference between Dr Catlin, Zack and his roommate.  After finally making those arrangements the boys spoke with him individually.  Dr Catlin said without a doubt the invisible residue on the cup could have indeed caused Zack’s positive test for Ostarine. Dr Catlin agreed to put this all in writing and submit his expert opinion to the NCAA committee on Zack’s behalf. 

The appeal packet was due 2/3.  The pieces had all come together physically by 2/2.  The appeal hearing (which is a phone conference call) was scheduled for 2/9 at 4pm.  It was all coming to a head.  Now after weeks and weeks of emails, calls and communication about this stuff and the stress of it weighing on us we were anxious to see it come to a close. As much as we ‘wanted’ to believe it would all work out. We didn’t want to have any ‘false hope’ just to walk away extremely upset when and if the committee said ‘to bad he should have known better’.  You see the NCAA doesn’t want to ‘uphold an appeal’.  That opens the door for others to try and ‘cheat the system’.  They don’t want to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. So before I get into the appeal hearing lets go over some facts that I found stupid.  If an athlete tests positive for an illegal drug like cocaine....they’ll lose 1/2 a season. If an athlete tests positive for a substance that’s not illegal like “ostarine” but considered “banned” they lose a full season. If an athlete commits a violent crime-not their problem...it’s up to the discretion of the school/coach. **There is no education. There is nothing that is actually helpful in this system that would actually assist an athlete who might have a real problem.**

There are 2 ways you can appeal a positive drug test: 1-procedural appeal (You’re saying something went wrong in the process of the collection/transit or testing) or 2- Knowledge. The student athlete didn’t knowingly consume the banned substance (this is what we were trying to prove)

“If the institution or the student-athlete demonstrates that the student-athlete was not aware they had been administered (defined as placed into the student-athlete’s system directly or through food or drink) a substance by another person that later is found to have contained a banned ingredient, then the drug-test appeal committee may determine that no violation has occurred.  In this situation, the student-athlete must show that he or she both did not know and could not reasonably have known or suspected (even with the exercise of utmost caution) that he or she had been administered by a third party a substance that is later found to have contained a banned ingredient.”

So it’s Wed night Feb 8th and we’re going to get the first and probably only snow storm of the year....I’m hearing 8-12inches....Now I get to worry something is going to go wrong with getting there, getting everyone on the call etc...but fortunately the storm was only 1/2 of what they predicted and over by 10am.  We got to WCU in plenty of time and Bonnie met us there.  The appeal is a phone conference with 3 NCAA committee members (and they also had the UCLA lab on the line which I’m not sure they do that for everyone; I think it was just for Zack’s situation).  Also in attendance were the college athletic director, compliance director, head coach, Zack’s roommate, Bonnie and us.  We got into the directors office at 3:45 and waited. By 4pm I’m getting fidgety (I’m stressed and not sitting still very well). We are waiting for ‘them’ to call.  by 4:05 they call and we just sit ‘on hold’...by now I’m out of my seat pacing....(I guess we’re waiting for the other committee members) for another 10 minutes. PURE TORTURE. We’ve already been warned that the committee can not be told any names- Not the school, athlete, etc. Everything is referred to by ‘title’. Nothing more so there is no bias. The committee is finally all on the line and the athletic director makes a brief intro and passes the baton to the head coach. It was moving to hear him speak about his support of Zack and the teams support with his final statement being “I asked all the guys about it and they said -No coach....he would not and could not lie”.  Next was the speech from our lawyer...basically spelling out every piece of evidence that was supporting Zack....every statement, the polygraph, and Dr Catlins opinion...it was impeccable.....it was then passed to Zack who started by sharing his love for the sport and his lack of desire to ever cheat....his hard work ethic learned from a young age working on a dairy farm and his true goal of being an elementary teacher and not a pro football player. He recollected how he took Nyquil out of a vitamin glass and didn’t know his roommate had used it for Ostarine. He spoke of his utter shock and disbelief with the positive drug result and he hoped the committee would take all of the evidence into consideration when making their decision. After his statement the committee was able to ask questions....

Some were: Did he know Ostarine was a banned substance? How does the school tell their student athletes about banned substances prior to the season? what kind of supplements was he taking? If you were in a cafeteria of 200 people would you just pick up a cup and use it? (no? then why would you use that cup in your house if it wasn’t yours). 

The roommate was asked what form of Ostarine he took (Liquid).  How much did he take at a time(5-6 drops from the dropper or out of the vitamin cup)...which became a contentious question as the one committee member (the same one who asked would he use a stray cup if he was in a cafeteria of 200 people) kept arguing he wouldn’t be getting the full dose by using the vitamin cup and why wouldn’t he rinse it out with soap instead of just water.... why didn’t he wash it out with soap each time? (my guess is he doesn’t know college boys very well....)

Lastly became the question about the concentration of the drug in Zacks urine. One of the committee members asked the lab what the qualifying lab value was for Ostarine and it was followed by asking what was Zack’s value....the response was Zack’s value was barely above the baseline of being positive (which was great...). Next the same member asked if the lab guy agreed with Dr Catlins statement and if the lab had any experience with other athletes testing positive with similar circumstances.  His response was despite not having seen this occur before in another student athlete he could see how that scenario could cause a positive result due to Ostarine being only “marginally soluable” in water...which would cause Zack to ingest Ostarine when drinking  Nyquil out of the same glass inevitably creating the positive result....The last statement by the mediator was ‘Does the committee have anymore questions?’.....Silence.

We were told to leave the call and they’d convene to discuss the outcome. They’d call the athletic director with the results. We left feeling good. Knowing we’d done our very best. Bonnie and Rob did 110% and having the lab agree with Dr Catlin (and basically what Zack had been proclaiming all along meant the world to us)...but we knew the NCAA could do whatever they wanted.  We decided to leave and go out to eat in celebration...b/c it was FINALLY OVER. No matter what happened....the grueling awfulness we’d endured for 2 months was done.

We weren’t 10 minutes into our drive and Zack gets a call.....”It’s an unknown number”. We all yell- ANSWER IT!!!!!!!  Zack’s says “oh ok...so is that good? Then he says -”we did it!!!! WE WON!!!!!”. Victory.......It was like winning the lottery where we just paid 20K for the ticket and won nothing but great memories...but it’s all worth it. It was like a giant black cloud had finally moved on. That weight on my shoulders had lifted.  Ron was in tears.  Zack was yelling “LET’S GO!!!!”...his roommate was freaking out with him....It was awesome. It was the end of a very very bad road I’d never wish upon anyone. 

In 20 years Zack is the first to ever go through this process at the school....our Zack. Leave it to a Hockman.....   Below is 20 seconds shortly following the initial call that he’s “NOT GUILTY”. Dad’s in tears. Come Fall Eve will be joining her big brother at college and she is so thrilled to know she’ll have the opportunity to see him play! 

Ron said- “ By FAR one of the most difficult periods of my life. My son fighting for his integrity, my dad goes into the hospital, the day he is discharged from the hospital is the day of Zack's appeal hearing. I didn't want to share any of it with my family - couldn't share it - dad's health was not good. When we got that call after we left the athletic office @ WCU - I simply cried & could not stop crying. I was SO HAPPY, I was SO PROUD of my son for holding it together. I believed in him & TRUTH prevailed. In his words "I play football because I love it. After these next three years, football will be over for me then I’m going to be an elementary school teacher."

I write this blog b/c it’s always therapeutic....but this topic is something that has created a passion in me b/c it’s not okay that we had to go to these lengths to clear his name. What if we couldn’t? How is the NCAA’s system helping student athletes? There has to be a better way.... and for the NCAA to be so unyielding is wrong. 

The NCAA is a non-profit organization that was constructed to ‘protect players’ ...but makes upwards of 700+ million dollars just on the mens basketball tournament and a billion in annual revenue doesn’t sound like “NON-PROFIT”.  who are they kidding?

*As a side note, the new company that took over my building decided to keep me and I’m happy to still have a job! (more good news...)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-treadway/johnny-manziel-ncaa-eligibility_b_3020985.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/04/sports/ncaa-player-antitrust-settlement-scholarships.html?_r=0

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/florida-gators/os-gators-will-grier-loses-ncaa-drug-appeal-20151120-story.html

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20160401/usc-linebacker-scott-felixs-career-over-after-ncaa-denies-appeal-for-taking-banned-substance