Growth Science
Our guide to the best sports for bone growth already flags volleyball as one of the strongest bone-density sports in the research, and our basketball guide covers the same selection-effect and jump-injury story for a closely related sport. This piece goes deeper on volleyball specifically: the real bone-density data from prepubescent volleyball players, the sport's single most striking injury statistic — a patellar tendon condition volleyball players develop more than athletes in almost any other sport studied — and a second, less-discussed overuse pattern tied specifically to serving and spiking. For where these numbers rank against the tallest players on the planet, see our guide to the tallest volleyball players in the world.
Where the "Volleyball Makes You Taller" Belief Comes From
Volleyball rewards height more directly at the net than almost any sport, so coaches and scouts favor taller players at every level. Our tallest volleyball players guide profiles athletes over 7 feet tall — a gap far too large for training to produce, and the same selection pattern documented in basketball talent selection research.
Kids who play volleyball tend to do it through the exact years puberty's growth spurt happens anyway. A player grows several inches over a season regardless of whether they touched a ball — the calendar is doing the work, not the sport.
What Actually Determines Height
The remaining share covers diet quality, sleep, general health, and childhood illness — not which sport a kid plays
Height is set by the same biology covered elsewhere on this site: sex hormones drive growth plates to lengthen bone during the peak height velocity window, then signal those same plates to fuse and close once puberty finishes. Jumping to block a hit or spike doesn't touch that hormonal signaling — a growth plate's rate of lengthening responds to growth hormone and IGF-1, not to how many times a player left the ground that practice.
The Real Physical Story: Volleyball's Bone-Building Effect
This is the part of the myth grounded in something real. Volleyball's mix of jumping, landing, and lateral movement is classified as "high-impact" loading in sports-medicine research — one of the categories most consistently linked to strong bone density gains in young athletes.
Jump landings generate several times body weight in ground reaction force
Bone cells detect the repeated mechanical signal
New mineral is laid down at the loaded site
Measurable on DXA scan after months of play
That longitudinal study followed 20 prepubescent volleyball players and 9 matched non-playing peers, all at the earliest stage of puberty, over one year of regular volleyball practice. Compared with controls, the volleyball group gained significantly more bone mineral density at the whole body (4.5% vs. 1.7%), lumbar spine (9.9% vs. 2.8%), and femoral neck (4.7% vs. 1.6%) — a genuinely strong, real effect on the growing skeleton. It says nothing about final height, but it's a real, separate reason volleyball is a solid choice for a growing kid's bones.
The Real Physical Risk: Jump-and-Serve Overuse Injuries in Young Players
The genuine physical story with volleyball and growing bodies isn't about height — it's about two specific, well-documented overuse patterns tied to the sport's two signature movements: repeated jumping to attack and block, and repeated overhead motion to serve and spike.
What This Means For You
The practical takeaway: volleyball doesn't make anyone taller — height is roughly 80% genetic, and the sport's extreme average heights at the elite level reflect who gets selected and advanced through it, not what it does to a person's skeleton. What volleyball genuinely offers a growing body is a real, well-documented bone-density benefit, paired with two real, well-documented injury patterns — jumper's knee and volleyball shoulder — tied to its two signature movements. For the full selection-effect story and jump-injury research on a closely related sport, see our guide to whether basketball makes you taller, for the data behind the sport's tallest outliers see our tallest volleyball players guide, and for the full bone-density comparison across sports, see our guide to the best sports for bone growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does playing volleyball make you taller?
No. Height is roughly 80% determined by genetics, and no sport — including volleyball — changes when or how much the growth plates lengthen bone. The extreme heights seen among elite volleyball players reflect who gets selected and advanced through the sport, not a physical effect of playing it.
Why are volleyball players so tall, then?
Because height is a direct advantage at the net for blocking and attacking, coaches and scouts favor taller players at every level, from youth club tryouts through the professional game. That selection process concentrates extreme height at the top of the sport over time — it isn't something the sport builds in a player.
How much does volleyball actually help bone density?
A one-year longitudinal study of prepubescent boys found volleyball players gained significantly more bone mineral density than non-playing peers at the whole body, lumbar spine, and femoral neck. It's a genuine, well-documented bone-health benefit, separate from height.
What is "jumper's knee" and why is it so common in volleyball?
Jumper's knee (patellar tendinopathy) is an overuse injury from repeated jump-landing stress on the tendon below the kneecap. Research examining elite athletes across nine different sports found the highest prevalence of any sport in volleyball, at nearly 45% — likely because volleyball combines a very high number of jumps per session with frequent competitive play.
What is "volleyball shoulder"?
It's a common name for suprascapular neuropathy with infraspinatus muscle atrophy — a weakening of a rotator cuff muscle caused by repeated nerve stretch during the overhead serving and spiking motion. Research on elite players has found it in roughly one in eight athletes, often without obvious pain, which is why persistent shoulder weakness or fatigue on the hitting arm is worth having checked.
