you know i learned in biology and anatomy classes that people hit growth spurts in life at different times(some just dont), but you're obviously really smart so....
the average 15 year old male in america is 5'8 150 poounds, which reading about freddy gaingin an inch and 10 pounds over this past year, puts him right at average.
There's nothing remotely normal about Freddy's growth pattern. You want to argue that he's 15, fine. But normal development? He's just another young teenager? Nope. If Freddy had developed normally he'd be watching MLS just like the rest of us. Nobody plays in MLS without a man's body. Maybe a short man's body, but a man nevertheless. Or to put it another way, nobody ever enters the league without having essentially finished their growth, so that they could put on some muscle mass rather than have a pencil thin, early puberty type body. Which was true of Freddy, too. He was listed at 5' 8", 150 lbs in May 2002, and he's listed at that size today, too. Probably some modest variation in truths among the listings but the essential fact remains, he's pretty much the same sized person. Some guys do mature very early, you know. They lord it over other 13 year olds as 5' 5" muscle boys, then get their asses kicked at age 17 by the 6 footers, who were skinny 5'3" 13 year olds. At least with Freddy, he won't have to worry about the other MLS players growing on him ... they're as big as they're going to get. Anyway ... Freddy in WC '06? Maybe. Realistically, he's gotta be one of the top MLS attackers next year to get into the pool. If that happens, he'll get a serious look. Otherwise, he may get an "experience" cap or two in a friendly but won't be on the '06 charts.
Ok i'm a 19 year old college freshman. When I was in 9th grade, for a physical I was 5'8,135 lbs. 10th grade I was 5'11,170 lbs,11th grade-12th -grade-6'0,180 Freshman6'1-180.It's quite feasible for Freddy to spurt soon, maybe a little of the offseason and again during the season. When I got to 16 I was taller and much faster than I had been. If Freddy gets a spurt like that, he could bust out and shut up everyone who ever doubted him. But then again,maybe he doesn't drink milk,only beer
This story is only relevant if you were 5' 8", 135 pounds as a 6th grader, too. If you told me that you stayed the same size from 6th grade to 9th grade, then grew 5 more inches over the next 4 years, I'd say OK we have a match.
No it's relevant to me being a 9th grader because I was 14-15. He has grown about 2-3 inches from 6th -9th grade.
Nope. He hasn't. See SI May 2002. Described as 5' 8", 150 pounds. At that time, Freddy was the age of a young 7th grader/old 6th grader (depending upon the school cutoffs). Again, this makes sense. Freddy was playing against U16s that year. You think he was competing against those guys as a 98 pounder? Not a chance. He was big for his age, so at least that gave him a chance physically when playing against the older boys. I mean, that's how youth soccer works. The really good players play up. The really good players who happen to be early maturers, they play up more. Kaka, who matured late? He couldn't get off the bench of his youth team. Seems to be doing better these days, however.
can i delete my post where i said i agree? you are completely wrong here. Males do not stop growing until 20-22. theyve already said he grew an inch and put on ten pounds this season. theres no arguing about his age, they investigated and checked everything, he is what he is. Im sorry some people cant handle that fact, oh well. hell i remember mike dunleavy jr. at duke. Between his freshmen and sophomore years(18-19) he grew 5 inches.
The thing that I find amusing about these height thread is that everyone seems to believe that there is a set age where growth stops. The reason everyone is not the same height and the reason why people have growth spurts at different times are genetics. Everyone posting, "Well, I stopped growing at age 22." "I stopped growing at 18." "I stopped growing at 16." Who cares? There are averages to a male's growth...but to create any average, there will be people on either side of it. When I was in 10th grade (16), I was 5'10". I'm currently 5'10". And this has as much relation to Freddy Adu's possible age as the fall of the dollar has to do with grazing patters of gazelles in Africa.
Exactly. Sorry guys, you don't have it both ways. You don't have - a) Prodigy sports guy, and b) Late bloomer. Freddy was on the early side for growth. That's why he has scarcely grown (if at all) in recent years, and that's why he's a professional athlete. He's gonna be small. But hell, he's already taller than Maradona. What more do you want? How do you know that no correlation exists?
Ohi get your theory. MLS being a professional sport, builds themselves a time machine to look into the futures of its younger stars, like adu. They saw they even though he was small, he had finished growing so it was ok to play him. However, if using this time machine they realized he still had some growing to do, they definitely would not have played him. good theory. Are you going to argue to me that MLS is more physically demanding than college football?? And college basketball in America is more of a legitimate sport than MLS.
No, the argument is if he hadn't (substantially) finished growing, he wouldn't have the power & speed that he does have, and he wouldn't be good enough to be in MLS. Like ... Kaka. Couldn't even consistently make the starting lineup of his youth roster until age 18. MLS would have been far, far past his abilities. You really think Kaka lacked Freddy's skills? No, he didn't. He just grew later. LeBron James. Full grown man at 18. Michael Jordan at 18. Too skinny to play NBA. Might have made the league as a 5 minute per game project player. People mature physically at different rates. The early ones are better at early ages. They may or may not be better at later ages, when all the development stuff evens out. Football? Where'd that come from? I'd say the chance of a less than full grown player contributing to a good Division football program is approximately zero. Not germane to the issue but sadly true.
http://cnnsi.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=&urlID=5587956&fb=Y&partnerID=2300 That's the link to the story. It talks about him being 5'8",140 lbs at the age of 13. That was after putting on 15lbs after he came to the residency. It doesn't seem too out of the realm that he could've been 5'8",125lbs as a 12 year old and then adding 15 lbs in a soccer program that got him to start lifting early.
Well, he wasn't 5' 8" at age 12 because he was 5' 6" this May, when standing next to Peter Nowak. At any rate, I appreciate your patience and I went further on this subject than anybody wants me to. All I can say is, if the Adus have anything resembling normal teenage growth, you can forget about seeing Fro in a professional soccer uniform, if he is a 6' 12 year old. More like, the next Yao Ming. Peace.
His height is a non-issue really. If he can fill out (which wil happen by the time he is 19), he will be able to hold off players... Plus, I read he is constantly lifting weights. doing this starting at his early age will help build a solid foundation..
a completely ridiculous and unfounding theory. Too skinny has something to do with his growth? People these days hit the weights a lot more than int he early 80s BTW, especially younger kids. Jordan weighed 200 pounds in college, that is not too skinny for the nba. Look at richard hamilton, one of the skinniest players out there, and avery good one. --well attending the university of florida for my 4th year now i can tell you how wrong you are. pay attention, kids grow. it is related, if college kids, not fully developed can make impacts in college, its no different from adu. If adu was fully developed hed probably already be a star, but hes not. Look at other kids drafted into the nba out of highschool, mcgrady, kobe, garnett, did not have a mans body. Lets not forget the minor league baseball players, young hockey players. its adu's dkill, speed, and potential that have everyone paying attention, he could be 7'6 or 4'5, face it you have no clue how much he still has to grow, to say you do, makes you look ridiculous.
Brian Urlacher played Safety and Reciever when he was at New Mexico as a 5'11" 170 pound freshman, as a junior he was one of the three finalists for the Thorpe award as a FS, Today he is a 6'4" 258 pound middle linebacker. Freddy is where he is because he is very talented. You can't say he's hit his peak because you can't accurately his future based on what you think you know today. At the beggining of the year he was listed as 5'8" 150 pounds but he was by all acounts smaller than that and more like 5'6.5" and 145 pounds. His brother is 5'10" and his dad is 6'2" so who knows. I seem to remeber Freddy agravating Mike Magee's concusion when challenging him for a ball and shoulder barging Chris Lietch off the ball. He's small but I don't think he's as thin or weak as DMB was when he first entered the league. Predicting growth is an inexact science but bassed on the size of his closest male family members I expect Freddy to grow at least 2 inches. Kaka, DMB, and Landon were the only players from the 1999 U-17 to play at Japorea in 2002. Kaka was such a late bloomer that he started for the champion Brazilian team. Kaka is only considered a late bloomer when compared to Freddy who is insanely talented at such an early age. I don't think Freddy is a superior athlete at the MLS level, he's talented but that doesn't mean he can't get better.
oh man, great urlacher reference, adam archuleta is another who was famous for this. one could also look to david bostons freakish growth and development at OHio state. great post.
Didn't know you were a fellow Gator. I guess I'll be forced to pay more attention to your posts now! LOL c/o 93 here. Anyway, I do understand what JohnR is trying to get at (I think). The problem is that Freddy's height has been overstated in the past, so it's causing a lot of confusion now. The fact of the matter now is that there is a high likelihood of him just being a short player. My biggest problem with the arguments routinely bandied about in reference to Freddy is that too many people assume that to be a great player, Freddy must get taller. That simply isn't the case.
watch the sierra mist commericial, it's not like pele is much taller than adu, and adu has supposedly grown since then
we've been urbanized! ---i agree you dont need to be tall to be great, like my favorite player of all time...ZOLA!