interesting article I came across - about race and sports performance
http://www2.webpark.cz/booboo/booboo.htm
interesting quote
Let's take a quotation from an internet forum, where Mr. Entine presented "well-researched" data from TABOO, p. 252:: "Top volleyball players [in America] top out at 50 percent or so. NBA players regularly exceed that with Spud Webb jumping more than 66 percent of his height -- 42 inches [107 cm] (he's 5 feet, 7 inches [170 cm/61 kg]). There is a test called the Sargent test, which measure jump and reach. The greatest Sargent result ever was recorded by former Utah Jazz star Darrell Griffith (aka Dr. Dunkenstein) who jumped 48 inches [122 cm] - that's 63 percent of his 6-4 [193 cm] frame. No white and certainly no Asian has ever come close."
I add that dr. LeVeau and dr Krugh, who measured Michael Jordan's jumping ability, found a much more modest number - 35,9 inches (91,3 cm). However, when he was tested during a jump from running, he achieved 45,8 inches (116 cm). I do hope that now it's clear to you, where all those incredible numbers cited by Entine come from. They are mystifications often spread by NBA stars and don't concern a true vertical jump (the Sargent test), but "a dunk jump", i.e. jump from running. In fact, according to one trainer, who seriously measured NBA players, they usually achieve results between 70-85 cm (28-34 in). Why not more? Count with me: An average NBA player measures 200 cm (6'7), which means that he has a vertical reach of about 255 cm (8'4). To touch the hoop of the basket, he needs a very mediocre jump of 50 cm (1'8). If you take an average basketball player with a decent jump of, say, 75 cm, it means that during a jump from running he jumps about 100 cm and has hands approximately 355 cm above the ground, i.e. 50 cm above the hoop.
Yes, the better anaerobic abilities of blacks - together with their somewhat faster motor development - may give them an important advantage during adolescence, because they can reach a sufficient performance level about 0,5-1 year faster than white kids. This probably explains, why black kids in racially mixed countries succeed in basketball (and some similar sports) more than their white contemporaries (and why the best white players come outside such countries). Naturally, due to their overall predispositions (and the fact that they live in US, the country, where NBA is played) black players will probably prevail in the game even in the future, but some people still can't understand that basketball is not sprinting. Higher percentage of people physiologically suited to the sport is no guarantee of a comparably high percentage of skilled people that will be able to compete in the sport at the elite level. Team sports are much more variable than individual sports.
If there is any team sport, where jumping ability is really critical, then it's volleyball. Top class volleyball players regularly jump 90-100 cm (and they are white). But even here the comparison is not easy and fair: volleyball players usually test vertical jumps with a 3-4 step advance, which increases the final height by cca 10-15 cm. This means that US volleyball team that achieved an average of 94,2 cm before 1984 Olympics actually jumped only 80-85 cm. But this is still higher than the presumable average of NBA players.
Sure, it's no chance that Cubanese women achieved a lot of success in this sport. But the female side is often influenced by a lack of serious competition, because women don't incline towards sports like men and they are not ever willing to undergone a body-deforming training (see also the persisting dominance of WNBA-women contrasting so strikingly with the recent results of the American Bad Dream's Teams). If we look at men's volleyball, the white players of Brazil, the contemporary leading world power in this sport, have 17 cm lower spike height and about 10 cm lower vertical jump height than Russia, the second best team in the world in 2002. In fact, if we predicted performance of Brazilians from such athletic statistics, they would belong to the biggest outsiders in the game. So even in volleyball, there are still other important variables than vertical reach influencing performance!
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