How do the coaches get the american high school athletes so big?

Question

This may sound like a weird question but I live in the UK. Looking at sites like rivalshigh.com and other recruiting sites I can see that most football players are well over 200lbs and a good deal of both basketball players and football players are well over 6ft.

I've played in hundreds of school team matches in the UK for the soccer, rugby, tennis, basketball etc and have seen nobody anywhere near that size. Even the top players who go on to become pro aren't that size.

Can anybody explain to me how from between the ages of 14 and 18 US athletes become huge whilst the UK athletes seem to stay around the 5'10-6'3 150-190lbs? Ie. What training specifics etc.

Answer 1

Genetics.  Look at most Asians (not just the athletes), they tend to be a "smaller" race.  Americans are generally a little bigger overall.  Although this is not always the case, on average, North Americans tend to be bigger (and often not in a good way!)

Average height is only one factor.  Overall body mass (generally speaking...weight) is greater in North America.  Like I said, they don't always carry that "mass" in a good way!