This is episode 16 of the Dunk Talk Podcast, no guest, just me walking through what I’d actually do differently if I could go back to age 10 or 11 and rebuild my dunk journey from the start. I’m Dylan Haugen. I’m 16 years old, 5’10”, and I just tested a 41.5-inch vertical at Dunk Camp 2024. I got my first dunk at 5’8” and 13. First Eastbay at 15. A lot of what I did between 10 and now was the right move. Some of it I’d completely change if I could rerun it. Below is the practical version of both.
Point 1: Max-effort jumping as often as possible, as young as possible
The thing I got right starting at age 10 or 11 was low-rim dunking, basically every day, on a 7’6” hoop. I didn’t do it because I was strategically building my vertical. I did it because pretending to be NBA players on a low rim was the most fun version of basketball I could come up with. The vertical climbed as a side effect.
The general training principle this falls under: the best thing you can do to get better at the thing you want to get better at is the thing itself. If you want to shoot threes better, you shoot. You don’t buy insoles. You don’t buy gadgets. You shoot. For jumping, that means jumping. As much as your body will let you, for as many years as you can stack up.
A lot of parents discourage low-rim because they want their kid practicing “real” basketball on a 10’ hoop. The problem: a 10-year-old can barely get the ball to a 10’ rim, and the time on the bigger rim teaches them almost nothing about jumping mechanics. Low rim teaches them everything. I’d push back on that framing if I had a kid right now. The window between 10 and 14 is the most leverage you ever get on a vertical, and it’s also the most pain-free window before knee pain becomes a thing.
Even at 16 I still dunk on low rims once a week, mostly to work trick dunks. Pro dunkers do low-rim sessions too, usually 9’, 9’6”, or 9’8”. The category doesn’t age out of usefulness.
Point 2: Study jump technique and learn your plant early
The thing I’d do differently: I’d study jump technique a lot earlier. As a kid I jumped off every plant. Left-right, right-left, off-one (left foot), off-one (right foot). I had no idea I was even mixing them. I was just playing basketball, which means quick decisions and no real plant control.
What I know now is that every serious dunker has a dominant plant, and the right move is to find that plant as young as possible and study the best dunkers who share it. I’m a left-right, two-foot jumper. The two best left-right jumpers in the world are Jordan Kilganon and Isaiah Rivera. The thing I do now constantly is record my own jumps and compare them side-by-side to their footage. Arm swing, penultimate step length, takeoff angle, hip-knee-ankle stack. I’m mimicking specific details and tightening up my own mechanics from there.
I wish I’d done that from age 10. My technique would be where it is now four or five years earlier, which would have meant the rest of the cascade (vertical, dunk variety, training response) would have started higher.
Point 3: Isometrics from a young age to prevent jumper’s knee
This is the part I most regret not doing earlier. Until last year I didn’t do isometrics consistently and didn’t even know what jumper’s knee really was. I had it. I just didn’t know.
The training piece is simple: leg extension isometric holds, reverse Nordic isometric holds, and a couple of others depending on where your knee pain shows up. If you’re a jumper, the patellar tendon is going to take a beating no matter how perfect your technique is, and isometrics are the single most effective way to keep the tendon healthy and pain-free.
The version of me at 10 should have been doing isometrics for fun before he ever felt pain. The version of me at 14 should have been doing them every single training day. The version of me at 16 finally is, and the difference is the difference between dreading every session and just training.
Point 4: Learn lifting technique as young as possible
The other thing I got partially right was lifting young. I had a personal trainer when I was younger who taught me power cleans, squats, and deadlifts before I had the strength to load any of them heavy. My form isn’t perfect today, but it’s good enough that the strength gains from lifting actually translate into vertical.
Lifting is the single biggest force-output multiplier in jump training. If you can’t squat, power clean, or deadlift with clean form, the heavier weights aren’t going to help you and you’re probably going to hurt yourself trying to get there. The form work is the unlock. Do it at 12 or 13 when you can’t hurt yourself with the weights you’re moving, and by the time you’re 18 the loaded lifts are just running on a clean engine.
Point 5: Find a coach or program that fits your schedule
The biggest individual change in my training over the past year has been joining JumpX. Tom Barnes and Austin Young are my main coaches, with Brody Stevens helping on technique. I started with them in October 2023 with around a 37.5-inch vertical and I’m at 41.5” now, with knee pain that’s mostly gone and a program that periodizes around my high school basketball schedule and Dunk Camp.
The argument for a coached program over a self-built one at a young age is that you don’t yet have the training intuition to periodize for yourself or to peak at the right time. JumpX is built for exactly this. If you have basketball season, school, work, whatever, the program flexes around it. The accountability piece is the other half. Anyone reading this who wants to get on JumpX can DM me, Tom Barnes, or Austin Young on Instagram and we can get you on the program.
If a coached program is out of reach, even a structured generic program is better than self-built guesswork. The point is structure, not who’s coaching specifically.
Point 6: Trust the process and stay consistent through plateaus
This one isn’t a tactical change, just a mental one. The first year or two of jumping every day, your vertical goes up basically every week. Beginner gains are real and they’re fast. Eventually you plateau. The plateau is where most dunkers either give up or start program-hopping every six weeks, which is the worst version of the same problem.
The version of me at 10 would have benefited from somebody telling him explicitly that plateaus are part of the curve. The version of me now knows that. Trust the macro. The micro can be ugly for weeks at a time. The full year I just trained for Dunk Camp 2024 had multiple multi-week stretches where my sessions were rough. The lifting cycles I was running in those windows are the reason I jumped 41.5 inches at camp. Delayed gratification is the actual job.
What this would have looked like in practice
If I could lay the restart out as a single timeline:
- Age 10–12: low-rim every day for fun, max-effort jumping as often as it’s fun, start studying jump-plant technique from Isaiah Rivera footage and figure out my plant by age 12, start isometric drills as part of warmups, start basic strength lifts (squat, deadlift, power clean) with light loads under a coach who knows what they’re doing.
- Age 13–14: first 10’ dunk, ideally around 13 (which is when I hit mine in real life). Keep the low-rim work going. Start really programming the lifts. Isometrics every session.
- Age 14–15: on a coached program, ideally JumpX. Periodize around basketball season. Add trick dunks to the bag through dedicated low-rim trick work. First Eastbay should land around 15 or 16 if everything stacks.
- Age 15–17: 40’+ vertical. Bigger bag. Heavier lifting. Dunk Camp every summer. Trust the macro.
The biggest practical change vs. my actual journey: I’d compress the technique-learning and isometric phases into ages 10–13 instead of starting them around 14–15. The vertical I’d be sitting at right now if I’d done that is probably 43 inches instead of 41.5. Small number difference, big difference in how many dunks become available on 10’.
What’s next
If you’re a young dunker, kid of a young dunker, or someone restarting in their twenties, pick the one or two pieces above that you can install this week and start there. The whole list at once is too much. Low rim + isometrics is probably the highest-leverage starting pair. Form-only lifting is a close second.
Next episode of the show is the Finn Addy interview, on how attending Dunk Camp led him to a pro contest. DunkMan League starts this summer. Comment with topics you want me to cover or dunkers you want me to interview. Thanks for watching.