As an avid lover of the game, there is a real September
trend coming about and I don’t like it. September, October and November have
become notorious for the youth basketball player’s failed dunk attempt posts
all over social media.
At the beginning of every one of my programs my athletes
take a short questionnaire to help me understand what exactly their goals and
expectations are from my program. You know what my number one request from my
basketball players is? “I want to increase my vertical by 3 – 6 inches” ends up
on at least 70% of my surveys. Increasing your vertical jump by 3 – 6 inches in
10 weeks being fairly unrealistic is beside the point. The point is, WHY do most
of these kids want the increase? If you think it’s because they want to become
the best paint defender in town, you’re delirious. Everyone wants to dunk.
Let me first say that I think the dunk is indeed an
impressive feat of athleticism. I probably wouldn’t be nearly as bitter if I
could do it myself. And sure, it’s cool to be able to show your friends and
that girl you’ve been trying to get a date with since junior high. It’s a great
achievement around here because it’s something we don’t see all that often. My
problem with it is that it’s become the most sought after skill in the game. It’s
hard to watch. A lot of athletes I work with dream of getting to play their
favorite sport at the next level. If it’s a realistic expectation, it’s my job
to help them get there. So my inspiration for this post comes not from the
bitterness of being a 5’ 9” sub par jumper, but from being an outsider looking
in on a large number of young athletes wasting their time trying to attain a
non transferrable skill set. Here are my 4 reasons we need to drop our infatuation with the
dunk:
1.
Cultural
Reproduction Patterns
Look, if nobody else is going to say it, I
will. If you haven’t figured out yet that in North Dakota we produce 6’ 0”
Caucasians, you’re living under a rock. It’s extremely rare to see a 6 ’6” or
6’ 8” athlete of darker skin complexion compete at the Class A or Class B level
around this state. I don’t think I need to explain myself to anyone who
understands which one of those demographics has dominated the college
basketball and professional basketball ranks. If you think next level coaches
give a damn that you can dunk, you don’t have a clue. How many 6’ 0” Caucasians
do you see competing at the next level because they can drive the lane and cram
over a post defender? NOT VERY MANY. They’re there because they either have a
keen understanding of the game, can handle the basketball on a string,
distribute the basketball unselfishly, stretch the floor with long range
precision jump shooting, or play great team defense. (Or a combination of
these) Look, if you’re 6’ 6” or taller, you can stop reading after this bullet
point, keep on keeping on. You’re one of the lucky few. Just keep jumping over
people and putting your elbow in the rim, you’ll be fine. If you haven’t been
blessed with above average height and a large make up of fast twitch muscle
fibers like myself, keep reading.
2.
Wasted
Time
Progress in strength and conditioning and
skill development is all about getting out of your comfort zone. The biggest
problem with dunking isn’t that kids spend time learning how to do it. It’s
that once they learn how to do it, they just keep doing it, over and over and
over again. Until they’ve showed it off so often that they waste precious time
that could have been used developing a more transferrable skill. Once dunking
becomes easy for you, it’s time to identify another skill you haven’t yet
acquired, and work on that. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Correcting
weaknesses will yield more benefit in the long term than the development of strengths.
3.
At
the end of the day, it’s only worth 2 points!
I don’t think I need to elaborate much on
this bullet point. I’ll take the guy that can shoot from 30 feet away every
single time over the guy who can 360 dunk but breaks the backboard every time
he chunks a mid range jump shot. Dunks are rare; you don’t often get an
opportunity to attempt one. This holds especially true at the high school level
because it almost always requires a defender to leak out on a break. If you can
shoot it from deep, handle the basketball, create opportunities for others, and
distribute you’re always going to get a chance to effect the outcome of the
game. And your FGs are often worth 150% more than that goon who keeps posting
those rim stuffs all over Instagram.
4.
If
you’re 20 pounds underweight and can't dribble, nobody cares.
As a strength and conditioning coach this
is probably the biggest issue I see with the dunk infatuation. Most of the kids
that are dunking all over the Internet are usually exactly the type I eluded to
earlier: blessed. They have a large make up of Type II muscle fibers that have
probably allowed them to create vertical explosiveness much greater than their
competitors their entire lives. This always catches up to you. The athletes at
the next level, who likely have been blessed with the same attributes, separate
themselves from the pack by dedicating themselves to the weight room or honing
other valuable skills. There is much more contact to be absorbed at the college
and professional levels. If you don’t have the strength and/or mass to handle
that, or the ball handling and shooting skills to avoid it, I hope you
appreciate how comfortable your warm up suit is. You’ll be wearing it a lot.
And I know what kids are going to say, “Kevin Durant couldn’t even bench press
185 pounds at the combine and he’s an MVP!” First off, the bench press is the
most overrated exercise in the industry. Second, Kevin Durant is 6’ 11”,
handles like a 1, shoots like a 2, and defends like a 3. He is a STATISTICAL
ANOMALY. YOU ARE NOT HIM.
This is something I’ve wanted to get off my
chest for quite some time. I can’t stand to see our youth athletes waste time
in the gym any longer and miss out on great opportunities. We as coaches need
to a do a better job of equipping these athletes with the right tools necessary
for improvement. Teaching them a large variety of ball handling, shooting, and
attacking drills is a great place to start. Asking them to dunk during their
attacking drills is fine, but praising them because they can do so is where
we’re going wrong. I see too many young, smart, talented and more importantly
passionate basketball players missing out on an opportunity to experience
competition at the college level because they have never been taught how to
improve the right way. That being said, there are a select few that have it
figured out, and when it comes together for them, it’s a thing of beauty. There
is nothing better than an athlete recognizing where he/she needs to improve and
how he/she can help their team win, and going to work. Thanks for reading.
Caleb Heilman
“The only thing I know is I’ll never know
everything.” – Jason Green
