Jalen Parks, Dean Cotrone, Lilli DeLeon

Kramer
Advanced Sports Medicine, Period 1
3 October 2017
Basketball Project
Question: What should the size of a basketball be for the high school basketball teams?
Background: The hand size to basketball ratio for both men and women are equal. The average
ball circumference for the NBA Is 75.25 cm and the average ball circumference for the WNBA if
72.71 cm. The average height of a NBA player is 67 and the average height of a WNBA player
is 60. To calculate the ratio of ball circumference to hand length, one must take hand length,
divide it by height, and multiply it by .108. The ratio for ball circumference / average hand length
for both NBA and WNBA is 0.01.
Hypothesis: The ratio of hand size to ball circumference will be the same, the size of the
basketball should not change for neither the boys team or the girls team.
Method: For each athlete, height was measured in centimeters using a tape measure. Soon
after, both left and right hands were measured from the heel of the palm to the tip of the third
finger in supination using a meter stick for both boys and girls Varsity team.
Data:
Boys Varsity
Athlete Height (cm) Left Hand (cm) Right Hand (cm)

Dylan Taylor 172 18 18

Jordan Fuller 178 20 20

Teddy Parham 188 19.5 19.5

Coltrane Goring 188 21 20

Julian Rishwain 200 19.5 19.5

Tyler Hawara 195 20 21

Ryan Engs 184 20 20

Joey Lipp 198 20 20

Lucas Carvahlo 191 19.5 20

Max Moses 191 19.5 19.5

Ziaire Williams 201 22.54 22.54

Elijah Pak 175 18.75 18.75

Aiden Oliver 193 22 22

 Jack Abunasar 185 19 19

Bryce Cooper 185 20.32 20.32

Girls Varsity
Athlete Height (cm) Left Hand (cm) Right Hand (cm)

Isabella Lea Ramirez 177 18 18

Bridget Doherty 173 19 19

Faith Granados 156 16 16

Kendall James 179 18 18

Leanna Chraghchian 172 18 18

Clarissa Cabil 178 17 17

Elon Mahone 176 18.5 18.5

Claire Biggs 168 17.5 17.5

Anne Curtis 176 16.5 16.5

Sasha Small 174 18.5 18.5

Selena Torres 170 17 17.5

Brooke Davis 164 18 17.5

Quantitative analysis: The average height of the men was 163 cm and the average hand length
on the left was 19.97cm and 20.01cm on the right hand. I found this by adding up the values for
height and hand length on both hands and dividing by 15.

Qualitative analysis: The average height for the women was 171.9 cm and the average hand
length was 17.7 cm on both the left and other hands. I found this by adding up the values for
height and hand length on both hands and dividing by 12.

Conclusion: The ball size should not change. The sizes of the balls and the hand width and
length of the athletes is all relative to the ball size. It all makes sense in relation to the female
and the male basketball players.