How a 5’7″ Kid Learned to Dunk a 10-Foot Rim
Everybody who plays basketball gets told the same thing if they’re short: find another lane. Passing, shooting, defense — anything but dunking, because dunking is for tall people. I’m 5 feet 7 inches. So I decided to go straight at the one thing I wasn’t supposed to be able to do.
If I couldn’t have the height, I’d build the jump.
The math nobody tells you
Here’s what dunking a 10-foot rim actually takes when you’re my size. My standing reach is about 7’5″. To get a ball over a 10-foot rim, I need to get my hand up around eleven feet. That’s a gap of more than three feet that has to come entirely out of my vertical jump. There’s no cheating it — either you can get up there or you can’t.
So the whole game became one number: how high can I jump?
Training in the THP system
I train in the THP Strength vertical-jump system, coached by Isaiah Rivera and John Evans. If you’re in the dunk world you know those names — it’s one of the programs behind some of the highest verticals ever tested. Being coached by Isaiah, who’s one of the best dunkers alive, means there’s no guessing. Every session has a purpose, every rep is logged, and the progress is measured, not imagined.
And it’s slow. That’s the part people don’t post. You don’t add a foot to your vertical in a month. You add an inch, then another, then you stall, then you break through. I’ve got a clip showing the same hoop ten months apart — about a 6-inch jump in vertical between the two. Six inches doesn’t sound like much until you realize six inches is the difference between fingertips on the rim and a clean dunk.
The first one
My first real dunk landed on a 9’11.5″ rim — half an inch under regulation. Flight time on it was around .86 seconds in the air. I’m not going to pretend I was calm about it. I said “I love life right now,” and I meant it. That dunk told me the full 10-foot rim wasn’t a dream — it was a few more inches of work.
Now I’m finishing on the full 10-foot rim off the lob, with a measured 37-inch vertical and a 10’6″ max touch. Windmills at 8 and 9 feet. The list keeps growing because the vertical keeps growing.
The receipts
- Height: 5’7″
- Vertical: 37 inches
- Max touch: 10’6″ (off a 7’5″ reach)
- First dunk: 9’11.5″ rim, ~.86s flight time
- Progress: ~6″ vertical gain in 10 months, same hoop
- System: THP Strength · coaches Isaiah Rivera & John Evans
Why I’m telling you the boring part
Because the inch-by-inch part is the story. Anybody can want to dunk. The thing that’s actually rare — at 5’7″ or any height — is being willing to chase one number for months when it barely moves. That’s the part I’m proud of, and it’s the part I’ll keep posting, rep by rep.
If you’re short and people told you to find another lane: this is the other lane. Build the jump.