How To Dunk

Dunking the ball has always been the highlight of all highlights in basketball. Not many possess the physical skills to get the ball up in the air and jam it over the rim. Players need to have a good vertical leap, excellent timing, decent ball handling skills, and perfect grip of the ball while in the air to be able to dunk the ball in practice. All these are skills that can be developed through continuous workout and practice. There are helpful resources online that you can use to teach yourself how to dunk by improving your leaping ability, ball grip, hand-eye coordination and timing.

However, we have to remember that dunking in practice is very different to dunking in a real game. In-game dunking requires a different level of skill-set. Unless you are running on open floor for a wide open dunk, you need to have great court and ball awareness, excellent handling to get through the primary defender, improved sense to locate the help defender and find the open spot on the floor, and still gather all the physical skills that you trained for to mount a successful dunk. The difficulty of the feat is the reason why dunking is one of the most impressive athletic plays of any sport and why many budding young players go to the nearest gym to practice and teach themselves how to dunk.

Once you teach yourself how to dunk and develop the physique to complete a successful dunk, you can do even better, jaw-dropping dunks by keeping some fundamental principles in mind.

First, gather your dunk with your strongest foot for the best jump. Some players prefer to jump with either their right or left of foot while others prefer to launch with both feet. Your gather will ultimately control your body while in the air and will also decide what hand you will end up using to guide the ball over the rim. The greatest dunkers in the world are ambidextrous which gives them the ability to gather and finish with either hand.

You should also remember that your ability to grip the ball is just as important as your vertical leap when it comes to making acrobatic dunks. It is one thing to get yourself in the air, and another thing to actually do something with the ball once you’re up there. Make sure that you have a good grip before you gather by not rushing your dunk and keeping your concentration on the rim.

Finally, always remember that while a dunk draw cheers from the stands and can change the momentum of the game, it is only one field goal just like any other field goal. If you play the game the right way, the opportunity to unleash the dunks that you trained for will come. If you sharpen your basketball fundamentals and teach yourself how to dunk at the same time, you will become a well-rounded and more feared basketball player.