How to Dunk a Basketball

Series Summary

Basketball, b-ball, hoops. These are all names for one of the most popular games in America: basketball. Whether it’s professional play in the NBA, college games, the local high school team, or a friendly round of one-on-one round, basketball is exciting and fast-paced, pitting player against player and skill against skill. Having strong fundamentals like dribbling, passing, and shooting are the keys to the success of any aspiring player or team. Though flashy dunks, trick shots and off the wall dribbling antics are fun to watch and have their place, they often create a “superstar” mentality that ultimately hurts the team if not put in check. What makes basketball great is the combination of individual talent and team strategy, producing a match that’s sure to keep spectators on edge. In this free video series, get some general tips for improving basketball skills. Travis Corpening is a semi-professional basketball player. He discusses how to do various dunk shots in basketball. Master the tomahawk dunk, 360 dunk, two-handed dunk, reverse layup dunk and many more. Also, get fitness tips to keep in shape while playing basketball. Find out how to use drills in basketball practice. Discover ways to improve basketball handling abilities as well. Corpening even discusses how to get into a college basketball program or how to tryout for the NBA D-League. So, take a moment, and hone basketball skills today!

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Travis Corpening and here we are at Kellina Beach recreation center and I'm about to show you just how to dunk a basketball. First of all you have different people with different styles. Some people choose to jump off of two feet, some people choose to jump off of one. And you also have people that choose to dunk, their favorite dunk is a one handed slam. Other people's favorite dunk, they like to come in with two handed. Whichever one you choose, you want to make sure you execute and actually make the dunk because if you are in high school; I remember those first days in high school when I tried to dunk. The first couple of times you try you don't, you might not make it. And you won't make the coach too happy. So you want to practice first to make sure you have confidence in it. Ok what you want to do is if you are trying a one handed, one leg, a one handed dunk off one leg, what you want to do is if you are right handed you want to plant with the left leg and take off after you get a running start. So your footwork is really just running towards the basket and while you still have, give yourself some room to actually elevate. So don't jump right when you get under the basket unless your vertical leap is that advanced. But what you want to do is, you want to give yourself maybe I'd say four feet away from the basket, four feet away from the basket, maybe five. And you want to take off from there. And once you take off you plant and you rise and do not try to slam it, and actually slam it until you can actually see the ball. Or imagine the ball getting above the rim. And the hardest thing about this is a lot of, a lot of first time dunkers what to slam it so hard and that's not what it's about when you are first trying to dunk. What it's about is actually making it. So until you actually get confidence in it, and your vertical leap up high enough to where you can slam it with authority, what you want to do is when you are first starting out is just put it in.Just put it in, and just put it in, is just continually practice putting it in the basket maybe grabbing the rim. So there you have it. Learning to dunk."