Different Kinds of Balls Like Rubber, Foam & More

Most sports and many games depend upon the use of at least one ball to complete a match. Balls can be made of a variety of materials, including, but not limited to, rubber, leather, plastic and foam.

  1. Inflated Rubber Balls

    • Inflated rubber balls are probably the most commonly seen balls in sports and games. For example, National Basketball Association games use an inflated rubber ball that is between 29.5 and 29.75 inches in circumference. This type of ball, in various sizes, is also used in kickball and children's games such as four-square.

    Hard Rubber Balls

    • Hard rubber balls, which are significantly smaller than their inflatable counterparts, have thicker walls and fit in the palm of the hand. These are typically used in sports using racquets, such as tennis, racquetball and squash, or lacrosse, in which players use hand-held nets.

    Foam Balls

    • Foam balls that 8.25 inches in diameter and coated in a thin layer of rubber are used in games governed by the National Amateur Dodgeball Association. Similar, but smaller, rubber-coated foam balls are also often used as stress relievers, to be squashed or kneaded in the hand to ease tension.

    Leather Balls

    • American football, soccer and rugby are played with inflated leather balls. In these, the leather is stitched together and then used to encase the inflatable core. A Major League Baseball official ball is 9 to 9.25 inches in circumference and is made of two pieces of leather wrapped around a hard rubber or cork center that has also been wrapped in yarn.

    Plastic Balls

    • Small, hard plastic balls that are only a few inches in circumference are used in golf and pingpong. Large, inflatable plastic balls such as beach balls are often used in children's games.