The first time you dunked

[NYCBred]

Re: The first time you dunked

I'm 6'8, got the rents to thank. Dad is 6'6, mom is 5'11.

I was so damn skinny and weak back in day though which is why I couldn't dunk until I was 6'4. I was always very coordinated but a stiff breeze would knock me over and I had zero muscle mass. When I graduated HS I was 6'8 and about 185 lbs, I couldn't even bench plates (135lbs) once, it was pathetic. Definitely the biggest reason why I didn't get any DI bball offers and fell down to DII. Late bloomer, what are you gonna do? I finally stopped growing and started filling out when I was 20 or so, I'm at 235 these days and can bench around 255, makes me happy.

My future son (lord willing) is probably gonna kill me because my future wife (also lord willing) is 5'3.

That is the exact height of my mom and dad also. Crazy how im so short compared to my pops right now.

[duke776]

Re: The first time you dunked

Haven't yet. I do remember back in sophmore year when I was 6'0 I could easily reach the rim, but could never slam it down. I'm 6'2 now, and while I'd like to dunk at least once, I'm not sure I will. I haven't even stepped on the court since sophmore year, I should sometime soon though since it's been two years.

Though I have the between the legs dunk pretty wired on the Nerf thing hanging from my closet door. (It's been hanging there since I was like 8. It's still sort of fun to shoot around on once every blue moon or so. And yes, I do still live with my parents. Lol. I commute to college.)

I used to jam on that thing all the time, up until the time I put a one foot hole in my wall after I lost balance on the way down and fell into it. I still have mine hanging up in my room too, just wouldn't seem right taking it down.

[youvalss]

Re: The first time you dunked

Oh, I remember in 1991-1992, my friend and I used to go to that basketball playground (at the elementary school I studied at), and there were 2 almost-regulate baskets and 2 lower baskets - about 8'. We used to dunk on those lower baskets and hang on the rim... I remember my friend immitating Barkley with that nasty 2-handed slam with the hanging on the rim...haha! And there were always little kids hanging around there and for them those lower baskets seemd very tall, and they always used to be amazed by the dunks we performed there. It was so fun, even though we both knew we should play on the taller baskets... Good times...

[Maxattax3]

Re: The first time you dunked

It was so fun, even though we both knew we should play on the taller baskets... Good times...

My older brother used to get so pissed at me when I would play at 7', 8', or 9'. We had an adjustable-height rim and I remember he would come and forcefully raise it up to 10 feet if he ever saw me playing on the lower settings.

[ZB9]

Re: The first time you dunked

Do you guys remember the first time you dunked? And the first time you dunked during a game?

My first dunk was after a gym class... It was the last class so I stayed at the basketball gym with the ball, all alone. I practiced dunking several times and succeeded after 2-3 tries. Never dunked during a game, though.

So what's your story...?

sophomore year in high school

[youvalss]

Re: The first time you dunked

My older brother used to get so pissed at me when I would play at 7', 8', or 9'. We had an adjustable-height rim and I remember he would come and forcefully raise it up to 10 feet if he ever saw me playing on the lower settings.

I've always dreamed of having a basket at home. But it's a bit problematic when you live in an apartment. Maybe in a year or 2 when, hopefully, I move to my first house ever...mmmm house......

[NEOPARADIGM]

Re: The first time you dunked

I'm 6-1, for the record.

In 10th grade I spent a lot of time on my vertical, practicing, first, grabbing the rim, then graduating to grabbing the rim with two hands, then grabbing the rim with two hands reverse, etc.

Then "just one day" ... was on a 2-on-1 break during lunchtime basketball (which is awesome cause there were spectators, haha), my boy lobbed up a oop, perfect placement, perfect timing, I caught that sucker with both hands and threw it down.

I'm most proud of the fact that I acted like I'd done it a hundred times before, which of course wasn't the case.

[mgoblue]

Re: The first time you dunked

Make fun of me all you want, but I'm sure some of you have this story too...

My friend in middle school had a younger brother who had the fisher price basketball hoop...we'd throw that thing as high as it went and throw down alley oop after alley oop...

I've also gone off on a lower rim, one kid down the street had the adjustable rim so we'd lower it and dunk...

Don't lie, you know you've done it

[VDusen04]

Re: The first time you dunked

Make fun of me all you want, but I'm sure some of you have this story too...

My friend in middle school had a younger brother who had the fisher price basketball hoop...we'd throw that thing as high as it went and throw down alley oop after alley oop...

I've also gone off on a lower rim, one kid down the street had the adjustable rim so we'd lower it and dunk...

Don't lie, you know you've done it

I've got no problem admitting I played on lowered hoops a ton throughout my life. I'll go out on a limb and attribute a chunk of my current-day dunking skills to the time I spent perfecting the mechanics of the stuff on lowered rims in my driveway.

I was also lucky enough to have a bedroom in my childhood that had a tall, slanted ceiling extending at least 15 feet up at its peak. For Christmas one year my dad made a wooden backboard with a plastic nerf-like rim attached that he drilled into my wall (around 7.5 ft. off the ground). I couldn't dunk on it when he first put it up, but over the years of trying (and growing), it quickly became natural.

I could see some players viewing a 10ft. bucket being so high and so far out of their reach that there'd be no point in trying to dunk. In my case, I think starting on lowered buckets helped the cause. I conquered the 7.5 foot hoop in my room, the lowered bucket in my driveway, then the slightly less lowered bucket in my driveway, then the kind of high bucket in my driveway, and finally the regulation bucket in my driveway.

Sometimes I'll hear my players wondering aloud what drills they need to do to increase their vertical and something they often tend to leave out is: Jumping. Jumping a lot, playing basketball and leaping frequently will build one's overall leaping ability. That's why I've never had a problem playing on lowered hoops. Sometimes if my players have had a good, solid stretch of practices, we'll lower the hoops in the gym down to 9ft. and let them go nuts. And you know I'm getting my dunks in as well. It's my only chance to feel like the Jason Richardson/Michael Jordan hybrid I've always dreamed of being.

[ehh]

Re: The first time you dunked

My dad used to come out into our driveway and yell at me all the time as a kid (even up til 6th and 7th grade) because I'd lower the hoop and have a blast. He'd always tell me that it'd screw up my game, I simply told him I was "scaling down the hoop" to match what it'd be like when I was full grown.

Even the most serious ballers gotta have fun growing up and just screw around on the court, even regularly. You don't wanna end up like Tiger Woods or Todd Marinovich.

[youvalss]

Re: The first time you dunked

I think if dads want to convince their kids not to lower the hoop, they should tell them:
"If you keep playing on this lower hoop, you won't grow taller"...

[Chaos81]

Re: The first time you dunked

I think if dads want to convince their kids not to lower the hoop, they should tell them:
"If you keep playing on this lower hoop, you won't grow taller"...

A friends Dad told me that when I was really young (5 or 6). Of course I believed him so I stayed with a regulation height basket, realized I sucked, and never played organized basketball.

[youvalss]

Re: The first time you dunked

A friends Dad told me that when I was really young (5 or 6). Of course I believed him so I stayed with a regulation height basket, realized I sucked, and never played organized basketball.

[VDusen04]

Re: The first time you dunked

My dad used to come out into our driveway and yell at me all the time as a kid (even up til 6th and 7th grade) because I'd lower the hoop and have a blast. He'd always tell me that it'd screw up my game, I simply told him I was "scaling down the hoop" to match what it'd be like when I was full grown.

Even the most serious ballers gotta have fun growing up and just screw around on the court, even regularly. You don't wanna end up like Tiger Woods or Todd Marinovich.

Ha, in my case it was my older brother that'd always yell at me for hanging on the rim. Then he'd turn around and throw down a vintage Shaq-Hammer (hanging with two hands and raising his legs) and I couldn't say a single thing about it. . .because he was bigger than me.

[youvalss]

Re: The first time you dunked

Talking about orginized basketball, the first and only time I played orginized basketball was when I was 12. My friend and I registered to one of the local teenage basketball teams - and REALY HATED IT! We stayed there for about 3 months or so. I remember each practice I had to go to was like a nightmare. I felt so good when the practice ended and I came home, like breaking out of prison. It probably wasn't that bad, but I just couldn't stand it back then. And then, we finally had a game...the first and only game I played. I came off the bench and didn't really felt lile playing. So I started tying my shoes in the middle of the action... The coach went nuts! LOL...after that my friend and I went there one more time to tell them we quit and that was it.