By: Jamar Akoh
I caught up with Michael Oguine and asked him a few questions. Here it is.
The Art of Dunking
By: Jamar Akoh
A lot of people think dunking is something that is just done without much thought. But, in fact, there is a great amount of thought put into it.
“Have I done this dunk already today?”
“Are the fans going to get tired of seeing this same dunk?”
“How’s my swag on the dunk?”
So I have been working on mastering what we call the “leg lift” in the basketball world. I have been working on this craft for years and I am still a long ways from mastering. It is what it sounds like, a simple lift of the legs when executing a dunk. While it may sound very simple, this takes a great deal of practice and can be very challenging to execute properly.
Timing is everything when it comes to the leg lift. It is best executed when the participant begins to lift his legs right before dunking the ball. By doing this there is special kind of force that is created, making a very powerful looking dunk. By lifting the legs, there is also more weight coming down as you grab the rim and finish the dunk(almost making it look like you are having a seat while hanging on the rim) and this is were the style comes in.
After all this, last but not least, the ROAR. Finish off this monstrous jam with a roar at the top of your lungs.
The trick here is to begin screaming as soon as you know you’ve completed the jam. It would be so embarrassing if you started screaming, only to find out you were unsuccessful. Once there guaranteed success, you may then begin the yelling process while still hanging on the rim. From there you can swing off of the rim with great “swag” and continue on with the roar to the crowd.