Athlete and Doping

Watch the NIL State episode: Free Products and the Compliance Conversation on Youtube Tiktok or Instagram 

Now let’s review the film.

Enhanced caught my attention because its business spans consumer supplements, clinician-guided prescription treatments, and the Enhanced Games—a competition that permits performance-enhancing substances prohibited in traditional sport. Those are different offerings under the same brand umbrella.

So what exactly is the athlete receiving?

A supplement? A prescribed treatment? What ingredients? What dose? What testing?

The logo doesn’t answer those questions.

We shouldn’t declare every product from a company banned because of its name or associations. We also shouldn’t assume a product is appropriate for a college athlete because somebody famous promotes it.

That’s scouting by jersey.

You wouldn’t prepare for an opponent by looking at the team photograph and calling it film study. Bring that same attention to the package sitting on your kitchen counter.

The NCAA says there are no NCAA-approved nutritional or dietary supplements. It also warns that supplements can contain banned substances absent from the label, and that third-party testing cannot eliminate every risk. Athletes should have products reviewed by designated athletics staff before using them. (ncaa.org)

Reading the label starts the possession. It doesn’t finish it.

And “a doctor prescribed it” doesn’t automatically settle the eligibility question either. Certain banned drug classes require an NCAA-approved medical exception before an athlete participates while taking them. (ncaa.org)

Different questions require different answers:

Is this medically appropriate for me?

Is it permitted under the rules governing my sport?

Who has reviewed the actual product?

You need more than excitement and a discount code to answer those.

That’s why I built the scene around an interruption.

Nobody delivers a speech. Nobody needs to become a supplement scientist between classes.

One teammate slows another down.

“Did you check?”

Three words. Excellent help defense.

Coaches, faculty, athletic directors, university leaders: this is where the episode can become useful beyond entertainment.

Show it to your athletes. Then ask:

“If that package arrived at your door, who would you contact before trying anything?”

Let them answer.

Can they name a person? Do they know how to reach that person? Would they ask before using the product—or mention it casually three weeks later?

If an athlete can memorize your entire playbook but can’t name the person who checks their supplements, that’s a gap your program can close.

We drill defensive rotations until players can make them without thinking. Off the court, we should make it equally easy to recognize when to pause and ask for help.

That’s what I want NIL State to do: put a decision inside a scene people will actually watch, then give them something useful to discuss afterward.

The joke gets their attention. The question should stay with them.

For athletes, the action is straightforward: before trying a new supplement or medication, take the actual product information to your designated athletics health-care or compliance staff.

For the people supporting them: make that contact clear, accessible, and part of the routine. Don’t assume the athlete knows the play because somebody handed out the playbook.

And for any brand seeking athletes’ trust, questions about ingredients, testing, and suitability deserve specific answers.

Free products can start a conversation. They cannot answer it.

Free products had my guy running the break. His roommate made him read the floor

Free products had my guy running the break. His roommate made him read the floor.