Gareth Bale Quotes

I was about 6-foot-3 my freshman year of high school, and after the summer, I was about 6-foot-8. It all happened so fast. I went into the summer being tall, and when I came back, I was a giant. My knees, man, they were throbbing all the time. I couldn't sit in the car for long stretches; my knees felt like they were going to explode.

I remember as a teen being able to eat more than my father. I was growing so fast and my body couldn't keep up.

I was quite small; then I had a big growth spurt that led to a problem with my back, which stopped me playing for a while. My bones were growing too quick for my weight.

I hit a big growth spurt between my 10th and 11th grade years.

I think I was one of those kids that, at the age of 13, start filling out a little bit: I was the kid that had the chest, the arms, the calves, especially, with these big legs like an adult.

When I tried to hit puberty I swung and I missed.

As every parent knows, children go through an adolescent growth spurt, during which they put on inches at an alarming rate. Humans are unique in this respect: most mammalian species, including apes, progress almost directly from infancy to adulthood.

The ninth grade. I went from 5'9' to 6'8'.

I grew six inches in a year.

People in this room must have back problems, I'm sure some of us do, and it is really, really one of the worst pains and debilitating parts of your body that you can actually have because you really can't do anything in your life when you have it.

I did not have implants, I just had a growth spurt.

I've always been a late bloomer. My body developed late. From ninth to 10th grade, I grew like 3 inches. Just kind of stretched out. I was like 6-1, grew to 6-4 in 10th grade.

Girls of 7, 8 or 9 years old are not emotionally or psychologically equipped to handle puberty.

I grew really fast. It's true I went from 5'6" to 6'1" in six months in 8th grade. By the end of 8th grade, I was 6'1". Everyone was freaking out.

My most string-beanish, I guess, is when I was 15 years old. From 15 to 16, I went from 155 pounds to 215. By the time I graduated from high school, I was between 235-250.

I was small until I was 15, then grew about 12 inches in a year and built up my strength in the gym.

My back isn't great.

I had problems growing up. I had a sudden growth spurt at 15 or 16, and I got a lot of injuries as a result. I gained all this muscle, and my bones couldn't cope. I used to get so tired.

I've had chronic back pain since I was a preteen - like, 12. I have really funny posture. I developed this funny posture where I hunch my back a little bit when I'm playing, and I overuse my back muscles instead of my abs. My posture has put a lot of strain on my lower back.

I was around 1.60 m or so, and then when I was 17 or 18 I started growing.

I was quite short and chubby until I was 14, when I shot up.

I was 5ft 3in tall until I was 17. Then I suddenly shot up.

I was 5'3' when I was 15, but suddenly shot up to over 6 feet by the time I turned 18 and it was clear that an NBA career was up for grabs.

That's probably the biggest difference from a hamstring to different injuries. You can play through pain with other injuries. But as I found out quickly with a hamstring, if you're feeling any pain, eventually, it's not going to work.

Adolescence is like cactus.