Why does a tall athlete have an advantage

There have been multiple professional athletes that have be much smaller than average but preformed with amazing skill and talent. Muggsy Bogues was a professional NBA player who stood at five feet and three inches. Check out is career stats, his height was no factor in his performance. Or is there a y variable that connects height and performance together? Many of the thing that one might see in a person that might lead to the description of them being athletic are actually genetic traits.

Here is an interesting article on whether elite athletes are born or made. I loved reading this post because in high school I was a three sport athlete, and always one of the shortest on all my teams. On my basketball team I would get so aggrevated when the older girls on my team were getting all the rebounds, but then I didnt let that stop me.

I realized because I was shorter I could jump higher and run faster. Each height has a different perk and ability and you just have to find yours! A short athlete can be just as fast as a tall athlete!

Here is another article on height affecting athletes in sports! Over a short distance, the extra work required by the body to move a larger athlete is rather negligible. But in a marathon, for instance, mile after mile of exertion gives the shorter runner a more distinct advantage.

To illustrate the point, Carl Lewis, one of the greatest sprinters and long jumpers in Olympic history, is about 6 foot 2, while Frank Shorter, one of the all-time great American marathoners, was 5 foot Sports such as baseball and soccer have great players of all heights.

While height might affect which sports kids choose to pursue, such as shorter kids seeking out gymnastics and taller kids being encouraged in basketball, ultimately their ability in any given sport will be equal to the time and effort they put into it.

Shorter kids who love basketball might end up playing at a higher level than their taller peers simply because they work harder.

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According to this website American gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas is four feet, eleven inches, and 90 pounds. RoB RoB 1, 1 1 gold badge 12 12 silver badges 34 34 bronze badges. Height is important in soccer, just differently per area. As a winger, being shorter allows you to move with more control. Defenders, and center forwards needs height in order to win headers.

Bowlers have to bowl under their shoulders otherwise it will considered a No ball after two bouncers. So they have to shorten their length. They can play yorker length ball better than tall players because normally short players have high backlift and tall players have to keep the bat lower while playing the shot.

However, if you are a bowler specially fast bowler , being a taller is an advantage. Himanshu Jansari Himanshu Jansari 6, 7 7 gold badges 34 34 silver badges 64 64 bronze badges. Tom Au Tom Au 3, 8 8 gold badges 24 24 silver badges 51 51 bronze badges. The stability of the slip is one of the most important feature to be a strong curler. Ale Ale 9, 9 9 gold badges 57 57 silver badges bronze badges.

Braamstruik Braamstruik 6 6 silver badges 16 16 bronze badges. I suspect this applies to a lot of endurance sports. The tradeoffs between the mass needed to increase work capacity for lack of a better phrase and the lack of mass which lets you cover more distance with the same work are going to be slightly different with every sport.

Is smallness an advantage in road cycling, for example? There's relatively little penalty for additional mass in distance swimming that I can think of, assuming it's not dead weight.

But ultimately physics has the final word. Shooting From wikipedia : in shooting sports, a shorter shooter can maintain better balance when standing for long periods of time holding a gun, as well as keep their gun steady. Noir Antares Noir Antares 2, 1 1 gold badge 12 12 silver badges 34 34 bronze badges. Martin 5, 7 7 gold badges 41 41 silver badges 81 81 bronze badges.

Ardnas Ardnas 1. Sam Dai 2 2 gold badges 8 8 silver badges 27 27 bronze badges. Those are surely very strong player, but is not possible to say that in football being small is an advantage — Ale. There are many examples of players as great as these who are taller than cm, sometimes substantially so.