Take another puff of that cigarette; destroy your life, lungs, teeth, and sports career all at the same time. Athletes and smoking are two words that should not be used in the same sentence. Everyone knows that smoking tobacco or anything else for that matter is bad for ones health, most noticeably in a person’s lungs. That takes on a special effect if a person is an athlete, especially in an aerobic sport like soccer, football, track and countless others. Skyline currently does not have a smoking policy geared towards its athletes, the smoking policy for the school acts as the athletic department’s smoking policy. Joe Morello, Dean of Athletics at Skyline says that there probably should be a policy specified for athletes smoking habits because it is a choice that not only affects them, but others around them. Whether it is people they are around who are being exposed to second hand smoke or their teammates and team who suffer from their lack of performance on the field. At the beginning of every season Skyline athletes go through a physical and are asked if they smoke. Last season only three out of 180 athletes admitted to smoking cigarettes, while about 12 out of 180 admitted to chewing tobacco; which is another serious health risk.If a Skyline athlete is caught smoking, or admits to smoking and they aren’t breaking any campus smoking policies then the only discipline or action the school can take is to have the student counseled.While counseling can produce positive effects it does not seem as a big enough deterrent to keep student athletes in check from cigarettes and other tobacco products.According to kidshealth.org, the physical effects of smoking that hinder athletes the most are rapid heartbeat, decreased blood circulation, and shortness of breath, which obviously play big roles in aerobic sports. Also, smoking decreases the bodies production of collagen, so common injuries to ligaments and tendons will take longer to heal than it would for a non-smoker. Morello says smoking a cigarette shouldn’t have any grand effect, but chronic smokers suffer from, “A decrease in aerobic capacity and a decrease in physical stamina.” Say an athlete plays baseball; the effect might not be as evident in performance since most aerobic activity in baseball is in short, spaced bursts. However, a soccer or basketball player who is a chronic smoker will definitely have a negative impact on the game from their lack of stamina and not being able to keep up with the quick pace of the game.Then there is the seasonal smoker who smokes year-round and quits smoking for the length of their sporting season. At this point Morello says that if a person can quit on a dime without a problem, then they aren’t addicted and may as well just quit altogether.Smoking has no positive effects and just seems pointless, it is not even considered cool anymore in popular society. So if you are not already addicted and have something that sounds like an excuse, why start?