The First Time I Dunked

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Abstract

of money ever given to an undrafted player. Not only that, but his game is also All-Star caliber, and was one of the best players who didn’t receive an invitation to All-Star weekend. He’s one of the league’s better three-point marksman at 37.6 percent and hits 90 percent of his free throws.Despite his success on the offensive end, none of it has come from dunking.VanVleet’s only dunked once in high school, and is able to do it, but has never attempted or made a dunk in-game since he doesn’t need it to be successful. There are plenty of lob threats on the Raptors who he can instead throw a pass to so they can slam it home. VanVleet is one of my favorite players in the NBA, and he’s walking proof that you don’t need to be a high flyer to make the game enjoyable to watch or to energize the crowd.Even though you don’t need to be able to dunk to be successful, players still love attempting dunks and pretending they’re able to even when they can. Being able to dunk is a sign that you’ve finally used your athleticism to its full capability, and you’re on your way to becoming better than the rest. However, even though everyone wants to be able to dunk, some people just aren’t able to.Height can obviously be a problem, but injuries are also another concern. It’s not so much about going up with the ball, but rather about sticking the landing. In one play, All-NBA flamethrower Klay Thompson tore his ACL on a dunk attempt gone wrong. Sure, the contact he tried to take didn’t help, but his leg just couldn’t take the awkward landing. Another reason why dunks can be so dangerous is when little kids watch their favorite player throw down a windmill or jump over a car and then go to try it themselves.Unfortunately, I’m no exception to that stereotype. I almost broke my neck because I had just watched my favorite player Jayson Tatum throw down a nasty dunk, and of course, wanting to be just like my idol, I tried to do the same things he did. Of course, I didn’t have the same conditioning or preparation as an All-NBA pla

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yer, but I still was determined nevertheless.I also realized I didn’t have the same jumping height as an NBA player, so I lowered the rim to make it doable. Not only that, but I decided to get a running start from uphill to add extra momentum to my drive. Even further, because I had just overthought everything to the point of a headache, I was going to try to attack the rim at a diagonal angle because I thought that was going to be better than a head-on onslaught.I even put on a t-shirt and shorts, got in my jumping shoes which were really just some comfortable sneakers, and was finally ready to dunk.I took a deep breath as I stared up at what felt like the Empire State Building and started my takeoff. I just kind of ran blindly at the rim and didn’t even slow down as I got closer to the rim like you’re supposed to. I just attacked it like an angry elephant and cocked my arm back as I reached up towards the rim.WHAM!I slammed my arm down at the apex of my jump, which doinked off the front of the rim and bounced off of the backboard and in. I was happy, but I hadn’t accounted for my landing. I thankfully landed on both feet, but the sheer momentum just took me backward. I was just backpedaling towards the road with nowhere to go.At the last second my body could have, I flipped backward into a roll and took the brunt of the impact on my back. I got up. Perfectly fine because the shock of what just happened hadn’t set in yet. I sat back down after and finally the shock set in. I was very lucky.If that had gone down any other way, I would have broken my neck for sure. I’m so thankful with every day that passes that it was not the case, as my life would have changed for the worse forever. This isn’t a story to scare people away from dunking, but rather to warn people about dunking. Throwing down a vicious dunk feels amazing, but if it’s not safe for you to try it or you’ve never done one before, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone else there or just hold off.</article></body>

Dunking is no easy feat, and can be downright dangerous if done wrong.

My momentum slammed me backward, and there was no way I was going to be able to control myself.

I tried to step upright and stumbled down the paved driveway until I couldn’t stay upright anymore and did something that probably saved my life. I flipped backward into a roll that forced my back to shoulder the impact instead of my neck, which surely would have broken if I hadn’t rolled and saved myself. All of that, just for one dunk.

Sure, it was my first dunk, but it wasn’t even a full rim, just a 9-foot rim and I almost broke my neck throwing down a rim grazer on it.

That experience was probably one of the scariest moments of my entire life, as I had to sit down for a moment and realize what could have happened if not for my quick thinking. Heck, it wasn’t even my quick thinking. It was almost as if my body took over and knew exactly how to save myself. If our driveway had been flat and not at an angle, I still would have broken my neck as I needed the extra momentum to be able to roll to safety.

Dunking is one of the most exciting feats in basketball, as it really helps separate the athletic from the non-athletic. Dunking is not the only thing a player can do to prove their athleticism, nor is it something that is necessary for a player to be able to do for them to succeed at the college, or even the NBA level. Perhaps the most notable example would be Toronto Raptors star Fred VanVleet.

VanVleet is one of the great success stories in today’s NBA and was recently handed a 5 year, 80 million dollar extension which was the most amount of money ever given to an undrafted player. Not only that, but his game is also All-Star caliber, and was one of the best players who didn’t receive an invitation to All-Star weekend. He’s one of the league’s better three-point marksman at 37.6 percent and hits 90 percent of his free throws.

Despite his success on the offensive end, none of it has come from dunking.

VanVleet’s only dunked once in high school, and is able to do it, but has never attempted or made a dunk in-game since he doesn’t need it to be successful. There are plenty of lob threats on the Raptors who he can instead throw a pass to so they can slam it home. VanVleet is one of my favorite players in the NBA, and he’s walking proof that you don’t need to be a high flyer to make the game enjoyable to watch or to energize the crowd.

Even though you don’t need to be able to dunk to be successful, players still love attempting dunks and pretending they’re able to even when they can. Being able to dunk is a sign that you’ve finally used your athleticism to its full capability, and you’re on your way to becoming better than the rest. However, even though everyone wants to be able to dunk, some people just aren’t able to.

Height can obviously be a problem, but injuries are also another concern. It’s not so much about going up with the ball, but rather about sticking the landing. In one play, All-NBA flamethrower Klay Thompson tore his ACL on a dunk attempt gone wrong. Sure, the contact he tried to take didn’t help, but his leg just couldn’t take the awkward landing. Another reason why dunks can be so dangerous is when little kids watch their favorite player throw down a windmill or jump over a car and then go to try it themselves.

Unfortunately, I’m no exception to that stereotype. I almost broke my neck because I had just watched my favorite player Jayson Tatum throw down a nasty dunk, and of course, wanting to be just like my idol, I tried to do the same things he did. Of course, I didn’t have the same conditioning or preparation as an All-NBA player, but I still was determined nevertheless.

I also realized I didn’t have the same jumping height as an NBA player, so I lowered the rim to make it doable. Not only that, but I decided to get a running start from uphill to add extra momentum to my drive. Even further, because I had just overthought everything to the point of a headache, I was going to try to attack the rim at a diagonal angle because I thought that was going to be better than a head-on onslaught.

I even put on a t-shirt and shorts, got in my jumping shoes which were really just some comfortable sneakers, and was finally ready to dunk.

I took a deep breath as I stared up at what felt like the Empire State Building and started my takeoff. I just kind of ran blindly at the rim and didn’t even slow down as I got closer to the rim like you’re supposed to. I just attacked it like an angry elephant and cocked my arm back as I reached up towards the rim.

WHAM!

I slammed my arm down at the apex of my jump, which doinked off the front of the rim and bounced off of the backboard and in. I was happy, but I hadn’t accounted for my landing. I thankfully landed on both feet, but the sheer momentum just took me backward. I was just backpedaling towards the road with nowhere to go.

At the last second my body could have, I flipped backward into a roll and took the brunt of the impact on my back. I got up. Perfectly fine because the shock of what just happened hadn’t set in yet. I sat back down after and finally the shock set in. I was very lucky.

If that had gone down any other way, I would have broken my neck for sure. I’m so thankful with every day that passes that it was not the case, as my life would have changed for the worse forever. This isn’t a story to scare people away from dunking, but rather to warn people about dunking. Throwing down a vicious dunk feels amazing, but if it’s not safe for you to try it or you’ve never done one before, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone else there or just hold off.