The Tamallah dunk is one of the most difficult and visually impressive dunks in the entire sport — and Ben Hopkins made it his mission to land one. In episode 33 of Dunk Talk, Dylan Haugen interviews Ben about the journey from setting his sights on this legendary dunk to finally making it a reality.
Who Is Ben Hopkins?
Ben Hopkins is a dedicated dunker known for his technical ambition and willingness to pursue the most challenging dunks in the sport. His journey to hitting a Tamallah — a dunk that requires exceptional timing, body control, and vertical leap — is a story of persistence that resonates with anyone who has ever chased a goal that seemed just out of reach.
What Is a Tamallah Dunk?
For those unfamiliar, the Tamallah is a dunk where the athlete brings the ball under both legs while in the air before finishing at the rim. It demands extreme hang time, precise ball handling at altitude, and the ability to maintain body control while executing a complex movement pattern in mid-air. It is one of the benchmark dunks that separates elite-level athletes from the broader community.
The Pursuit
Ben describes the process of working toward this dunk over an extended period. It was not an overnight achievement — it required months of progressive training, failed attempts, and incremental progress. He breaks down the specific skills he needed to develop, the training drills he used, and the mental hurdles he had to overcome along the way.
The failed attempts were just as important as the successful one. Each miss provided feedback about what needed to change — a slightly different approach angle, a more aggressive arm swing, or a refined ball movement pattern. Ben’s ability to extract useful information from failures and apply it to subsequent attempts is what ultimately led to success.
The Moment It Happened
Ben shares the story of the session where he finally landed the Tamallah. The emotions, the physical sensation, and the reaction from those who witnessed it are all described in vivid detail. For any dunker who has spent weeks or months chasing a specific dunk, the moment of finally hitting it is one of the most rewarding experiences in the sport.
Lessons From the Journey
The episode closes with Ben reflecting on what the Tamallah pursuit taught him about goal-setting, patience, and the value of progressive skill development. His experience is a blueprint for any athlete pursuing a difficult dunking milestone — break the goal into smaller components, train each component deliberately, and trust that consistent effort will eventually produce the result you are chasing.
What is the most difficult dunk you are currently working toward? Share your goal in the comments — we want to follow your progress.