World's tallest teenage girl: 6ft 11 ins, size 11 feet

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Towering over her teacher and friends 16-year-old Marvadene Anderson stands six feet eleven inches tall making her the world's tallest teenage girl.

Marvadene towers over her teacher Peter Richardson, who is 5 foot 8 inches tall Photo: BARCROFT

 

Currently studying under a scholarship at Rutgers Preparatory School in New Jersey, Marvadene is terrorising opposition teams across the state playing for the school basketball team.

Originally from Jamaica, Marvadene is five inches taller than her idol, the basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Marvadene, weighs 15st and wears size 11 shoes, and it seems it runs in the family as her older sister, Kimberly, is 6ft 4in and calls her sister the "baby giant."

"Marvadene is wonderful addition to the school and the basketball team here," said JJ Quenault, 42, a teacher at Rutgers Preparatory School.

"The other girls were stunned by her height when they first met her and I must admit so was I, but now she is almost irreplaceable in the team.

"She is going to be a star in the world of girls' basketball and even though she has only recently adapted to basketball from netball, we expect a big future from her."

Attending classes at the New Jersey school, Marvadene is used to towering over her teachers.
"I work in the school photographic department and so have taken a few pictures of Marvadene," said JJ.
"To see her standing over her teacher Peter Richardson is quite amusing, as he is five foot eight and she of course is the world's tallest teenage girl at 6ft 11in."

Marvadene took the title from Thai national Malee Duangdee who stands at 6ft 10in.
"People are friendly with me because of my height and my personality. If I was tall and mean, I think I'd have a problem," she said.

"The rudest thing anybody ever said about my height is that I'm not going to be able to find a husband."

Tall women's salaries leave short girls in the shade

By Daily Mail Reporter

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Height advantage: Taller women get paid higher salaries (FILE PHOTO)

It may be a tall order for some women to accept.

But shorter females earn less than their loftier colleagues, a study claims

Those who stand at 5ft8in and above are twice as likely to earn more than £30,000 a year - or up to £5,000 more than their vertically challenged friends.

The researchers asked 1,461 women over the age of 16 to give details about their salary and measurements.

A fifth of those questioned who fell into the 'tall' category said they earned £30,000 and above compared with 10 per cent of women under 5ft8in.

At the same time, 20 per cent of the tall women said they saw their height as a source of 'empowerment and authority' compared with just 5 per cent of shorter females.

And the study revealed that the taller you are, the more comfortable you are likely to be with your body.

A quarter of women over 5ft8in said they would not change anything about themselves.

In contrast, 90 per cent of females in the 'short' category said they were unhappy with their looks, the study for clothing chain Long Tall Sally found.

Arianne Cohen, author of The Tall Book: A Celebration Of Life From On High, said: 'Research shows that tall people are consistently more successful in the workplace.

'Not only do they earn more but they're more likely to be in leadership positions.

'As taller people have a downward eyecast when speaking to shorter colleagues, they are instinctively perceived to have authority and confidence.

'It means that those who are taller are respected by their colleagues and bosses, giving them a thriving atmosphere that leads them to more success.'

Size really does matter - at least in football, claim scientists

Football sides are more successful if their best players are taller and leaner, academics have claimed.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspodent

Tall players like Peter Crouch are more of a recipe for success. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Professors at Wolverhampton University reckon the best top-flight sides have bigger and leaner stars and are statistically less likely to win trophies with smaller players.

Their research claims size matters because "professional footballers are getting taller and slightly leaner...with a small but significant rise in BMI (Body Mass Index) over four decades".

Professor Alan Nevill, from the School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure - who studied nearly 900 players from four decades of English top flight football - said: "We looked at heights and weights and ages of professional footballers spanning over 40 years and looked at how heights and weights have developed, and sure enough, players are getting taller and leaner.

"The height to weight ratio is also changing, which was the key indicator for successful teams.

"The top six teams in the league appear to have more of these taller, leaner players, in comparison to the teams below them.

"These results suggest that football coaches and talent scouts should pay attention to the body shape when selecting potential players for their squads."

Prof. Nevill put the trend of increasing numbers of gangly stars down to their ability to lose heat from their bodies and close opponents down more quickly.

Prof Nevill added: "Apart from the fact that taller players will be more successful at heading the ball both defensively and in attack, they will be able to close down or limit opposition players' ability to pass and distribute the ball.

"Furthermore, taller, thinner people are able to dissipate heat more rapidly than shorter, heavier people, who overheat more quickly because of their smaller surface area.

"The concept of a player having to be big and muscular might've been true in the 80s, but nowadays that kind of player isn't the key kind of shape for Premier League players.

"Many of the differences in playing position were also anticipated, with goalkeepers, central defenders, and strikers being taller and heavier than players playing in wider positions.

"This was particularly true of strikers and players playing in the forward line - the likes of Thierry Henry, Peter Crouch and Ruud Van Nistelrooy are good examples of players who are key to the success of the teams we have studied."

The claims that successful teams have taller and leaner strikers will be good news for fans of Arsenal and Aston Villa - who boast two of the biggest forwards in the league in Emmanuel Adebayor and John Carew.

However, the study might come as more of a surprise to Man Utd fans - whose team sit top of the league despite their striker Carlos Tevez being the ninth shortest player in the Premier League.

Prof Nevill added: "We wanted to find out if there is any evidence that players are getting close to the limit of their physiological performance, and one of the ways to do that is to look at whether their shapes are changing.

"We all know footballers are struggling to avoid injury, and the sheer pressures of the game are appearing to increase with every decade.

"Decades ago it was not surprising to see a lot of players play every single match in a league season, but more recently that has become almost unheard of.

"The more successful players for teams who are winning more and getting into Europe are getting taller and leaner, and are not carrying as much weight as they used to."

Professor Nevill carried out the research with Adam Watts, from the University's School of Applied Sciences and Roger Holder, of the University of Birmingham's School of Mathematics and Statistics.

The findings have been published in the Journal of Sports Sciences.