A few of the members of the athletic department gave their opinions on how smoking can negatively affect a student athlete’s performance and overall health.
Tim McDonald, the men’s basketball coach, talked about how smoking affects an athlete’s ability to perform at their absolute peak. It impacts the health of their lungs and breathing overall, not to mention their heart health. For college-age athletes specifically, the most noticeable impact would be on the athlete’s conditioning.
Photo by Matthew Santangelo
“Basketball and, obviously, most sports are tough with a lot of conditioning,” McDonald said. “I think basketball is one that, if you were smoking, you would struggle to stay in the conditioning level that you would need to be able to.”
In the 10 years that he has been the head coach at Cabrini, McDonald said there has been no issue to speak of with any of his athletes. It is something he feels would be fairly easy to spot, given the great negative impact it would have on the athlete’s performance.
McDonald said that there are some sports that are not as physical as basketball where an athlete might be able to get away with smoking, but, since in basketball you are tirelessly running up and down the court, there would likely be a drastic drop in the athlete’s ability to do his job.
On the topic of vaping, McDonald said that he wasn’t as well-versed with the science behind it. However, he does realize that it has become very popular in recent times and that it has side effects purported to be similar to that of smoking tobacco, especially in terms of the lungs.
Photo by Matthew Santangelo
McDonald mentioned specifically that he had heard that vaping could potentially cause chemicals to negatively affect the lungs faster than traditional cigarettes. He also said that many believe that this is simply a ploy utilized by big tobacco companies in an attempt to retrieve lost customers.
In any regard, McDonald made it clear that he is against both traditional smoking and vaping because of the way both will undoubtedly negatively impact athletes.
“I don’t think [smoking] positively affects [athletic performance] by any means,” Maggie McElroy, athletics office specialist and assistant coach for the women’s basketball team, said. “It’s obviously not healthy so I don’t think that any athlete should be smoking.”
McElroy also said that there have been no issues with smoking among Cabrini’s student-athletes to her knowledge.
Photo by Matthew Santangelo
In terms of vaping, McElroy said that since it seems to be so dangerous for the average person to engage in, it would be even more detrimental to someone who is expected to perform athletically at a high level.
Kate Corcoran, the associate director of athletics, warned specifically of the dangers of vaping. She said that since this practice is relatively new, there is really no way to know “what dangers it could hold.”
