Does playing basketball make you tall? This is a commonly asked question. However, if you asked me, then I would have laughed out loud and told, “Hell no! Playing basketball will never make you taller.” After doing some valid research on this topic, I found out some convincing arguments that playing basketball will never make you taller. Many people believe that there is a connection between basketball and height. But actually, it is wrong.
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Medial prove
There are no reliable medical proofs that concisely says playing basketball makes you taller. So without any medical evidence, I am not willing to say that playing basketball can make you taller.
Darwinism
“Theory of Evolution,” says – the adaptation of the spices by natural selection to survive the struggle of existence.
- Basketball is a self-selecting game
- If someone decides to play basketball, their height doesn’t increase even by a few inches
- But if you are tall, then you can have the advantage of playing basketball
- You can’t teach anyone to be a tall basketball player, but you can teach how to be a better basketball player. That’s why many college basketball coaches on tall kids who have been playing basketball for one or two years. These coaches can teach the player how to improve dribbling, passing, shooting, and shot-blocking skills but teach a kid how to be taller who already knows shooting, passing, dribbling, and blocking well.
- It doesn’t matter how skilled a short basketball player is, after a certain age when they will stop growing, and they can never be tall. Probably you have heard of Muggsy Bogues, who was 5 feet 3 inches tall and around 62 kg’s when he used to play, and he played many games during his long career. Basketball could not make him a tall guy.
- If you are a good passer, then will your hands grow?
- If you have a good court vision, does that mean your eyes will grow wider?
- If you walk more, does that mean your feet will grow will get bigger?
The answer to all of the questions mentioned above is the same. That is “NO.”
So playing basketball will make you a taller person. The answer is, “NO.”
Misconception and fallacy
Usually, it seems that basketball players are tall, so it means playing basketball can make you taller. Isn’t it? This is entirely wrong and a fallacy. We can refer to this as “post hoc fallacy.” It means after this, therefore because of this. If you look at the basketball players, you can see that most of them are very tall, so playing basketball will make them taller.
Lamarckism
It is a theory about biological evolution that means changes happen in an organism by the use disuse of its body parts in response to the environmental change that is congenital by its offspring.
Differences between Lamarckism and Darwinism
It is better to show an example to show the differences between these two theories. In this example, I am going to show you the logic and reasoning why giraffes have a long neck. It is an attempt to narrate the instance to a basketball player of being tall. So playing basketball will make a tall person? After reading the examples, think that again.
- As per Darwin
- A giraffe with a long neck can collect his food high up
- A giraffe with a long neck gets sufficient food to survive, and they reproduce.
- A giraffe’s progeny inherit its long neck
- As per Lamarck
- A giraffe expands its neck to collect its food high up
- The giraffe’s neck gets long because they use their neck a lot
- A giraffe’s progeny inherit its long neck
The theory and concept of Lamarck were questioned because there is no genetic basis for developed characteristics. There might be a correlation between tall people and basketball, but there is no causation, and it doesn’t mean that playing basketball will make you taller.
What can you improve by playing basketball?
Although playing basketball won’t make you taller, but you can improve your different sets of skills by playing basketball. Let’s check them out below –
- Jumping - you can improve your jumping ability by playing basketball regularly.
- Speed – When you play and practice basketball every day, then this will help you with improving your speediness. Your physical fitness will improve too.
- Hand-eye coordination - your hand-eye coordination will improve when you play this game regularly.
- Shooting skills – when you regularly play basketball, you need to shoot that ball frequently while playing; thus, it will improve your shooting skills as well.
- Running – During the game or any practice session, you need to run a lot. It helps you improve your running, and you can run more frequently if you are continuously doing that.
Final verdict
So eventually, people love to believe whatever it is they want to find. I already mentioned about some scientific facts and showed some logical reasons about how our body works. At no point, I do believe that playing basketball will make you taller. I have a few Filipino friends who love to play basketball, and some of them die heart fans of this game. But no one of them is tall. In the Philippines many people love basketball, and a good number of people do play basketball over there as well.
Most of the Filipinos are not that tall. So should I tell you that playing basketball is going to make you taller? Hell, NO! I believe that most of the people on this earth have the intention to believe in what they have a competitive advantage. Have you ever seen many skinny offensive linemen? The answer is NO because they don’t have any competitive advantage as an offensive lineman in football. Would you say that becoming offensive linemen is the reason for them being fat? No! There is a correlation here because of the competitive advantage, but it is not causation.
