Dunk a basketball

“I continued driving towards the paint, all alone now. I don’t remember what I was thinking as the goal neared, but I’ll never forget what happened next. I jumped off my left foot and found myself plenty high enough to dunk the basketball, so I did. I dunked a basketball, in a game. For the record, the dunk had some oomph. It wasn’t a drop-the-ball-in-and-pop-the-rim dunk, and it wasn’t a barely-made-it-over-the-rim dunk. It was an authoritative, keep-your-eyes-on-me-cuz-I’ll-swipe-your-pass-cross-you-over-and-dip-off-one-foot-easily-dunk. I remember coming down. I landed on both feet and crouched in a half squat. I remember the wide eyes of my teammates. I remember running to get back on defense like, no big deal.”

“It feels powerful, especially when with the noise that rims make. In high school, we had breakaway rims, so when I dunked, the rim would bend down and then snap back, making a cool sound. The first dunked when I was about 14, but it was just barely getting the ball in. I really starting feeling the power behind it when I was able to cock back my arm in the air and slam the ball in. When I learned more dunks, it felt even better. [...] On the other hand, it hurt my hand sometimes. I got a blister on my finger doing it too much, and the next time I dunked in practice, it got ripped open and started bleeding. Another time, I dunked in an away game, when I was used to breakaway rims. When I dunked it hard, the rim didn't give like I was used to, and I hurt my back a little. If I missed, I also felt is tired . When I was tried to dunk in a game for the first time and missed (ball came out), as I was running back to defense I felt my energy fall pretty far. This was probably due to the adrenaline rush going away.”