A: I wish I knew. I'd like to believe that pressure from parents and coaches has restricted steroid use, but I've had my head in the sand more than a few times in my life.

There is some evidence of a nationwide increase in steroid use among teenagers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 6 percent of the 15,000 students in grades 9 through 12 who took the CDC's 2003 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey acknowledged taking steroid pills or shots at least once.

Penn State professor Charles Yesalis told The Associated Press this spring, "I think we've had a million kids who've cycled (used steroids over a 6- to 12-week period or longer) on these drugs."

The best arguments against steroids I've ever read were in a recent edition of the Character Counts! Sportsmanship Newsletter by the Josephson Institute of Los Angeles.

The article by Dan McNeill acknowledged that steroids indeed make you stronger and that some users such as baseball star Jose Canseco claim that steroids improved hand-eye coordination.

The arguments against steroids:

1) Steroids can stunt your growth. "In adolescents, they can artificially trigger the signal that stops bones from growing and fixes your height."

2) Steroids can put you on the bench for the whole season. (Tendons and ligaments can tear from handling the extra muscle mass.)

4) Steroids can make you look like the opposite sex (in girls: facial hair, deepened voice, breast reduction, menstrual cycle changes; in boys: growth of breasts, shrinking of testicles, impotence).

5) Steroids can lead to heart attacks and diabetes. (Steroids worsen all risk factors, including raising blood pressure and altering sugar metabolism.)

6) Steroids cause liver damage.

7) Steroids are a time bomb because the negative effects can occur even after you've quit taking them.

8) Steroids can ruin your emotional life ("roid rage" and mood swings).

9) Steroids can become addictive.

10) Steroids can have dangerous impurities because many come from underground labs and foreign sources.

11) Steroids are illegal without a doctor's prescription and could make you subject to arrest.

12) Steroids can brand you as a cheater.

13) Steroids can make you fear being exposed as a "user."

Bottom line: You're making a big mistake if you're on steroids.

Q: How many schools offer rowing as an interscholastic sport in the Seattle area? How many kids row on club teams?

A: Two Seattle private schools, Lakeside and all-girls Holy Names, are the only schools with rowing teams. Most high-school rowers pull oars for club teams.

Earlier this month, nearly 1,000 high-school athletes that belong to 22 rowing clubs in the Northwest competed in Junior Regionals in Vancouver, Wash.

The quality of Northwest rowers is considered high, and Seattle crews have won national championships.

Twelve local high-school rowers have been selected to try out for this year's U.S. junior national rowing teams that will compete in Germany.

The invited boys are Jesse Johnson, Sr., Mercer Island, who rows for the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center, and David Goulet, Jr., Kamiak, who rows for Everett Rowing Association.

The invited girls: Annie Gayman, Sr., Garfield, Alee Perkins and Eva Sheridan, both Jrs., Roosevelt, all members of Green Lake Crew; Lindsay Meyer, Soph., Holy Names; Kelly Amsler, Sr., Lake Washington, Jennifer Cromwell, Jr., Sammamish, Kari Stenbakken, Sr., Eastlake, all members of the Sammamish Rowing Association; Sara Gribler, Jr., Marysville-Pilchuck, Erin Knox, Jr., Snohomish, Adrienne Mecham, Jr., Lake Stevens, and Ashley Kroll, Jr., Kamiak, all members of the Everett Rowing Association.

Have a question about high-school sports? Craig Smith will find the answer every Tuesday in The Times. Ask your question in one of the following ways: Voice mail (206-464-8279), snail mail (Craig Smith, Seattle Times Sports, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111) or e-mail csmith@seattletimes.com