Episode six of Dunk Talk was one of those conversations that ended up going way deeper than I (Dylan Haugen) expected. My co-host Hunter Castona and I sat down with Connor Barth, a professional dunker with years of experience who had recently been through something far more serious than any dunk-related injury. Connor had been battling cancer, and this was one of the first times he talked publicly about what that experience was like and how he was fighting his way back.
Connor’s Cancer Diagnosis and Recovery
In September, shortly after attending Dunk Camp, Connor learned he had a form of cancer. Even though doctors considered it a less aggressive type, it still required surgery and months of chemotherapy. He spent three and a half months basically confined to bed, losing conditioning and gaining weight. By the time we recorded this episode, his treatment had concluded and medical tests cleared him, but he was still in the early stages of rebuilding. He was doing gentle walks, light training, and gradually working back into the gym. What struck me most was how the experience gave him a completely different perspective on coaching. He now has genuine empathy for clients who struggle to regain fitness after setbacks, because he lived through that exact situation himself.
From Texas Backyard to the Pro Dunk Scene
Connor grew up in Texas playing multiple sports. Baseball and volleyball came before basketball, and he loved the explosive feeling of spiking and blocking. His early dunking influences were Mavericks high-flyer Gerald Green and the legendary Vince Carter. As a teenager he started lowering his adjustable backyard hoop to seven feet and messing around with jams. His vertical improved slowly through high school, and he finally touched rim as a sophomore. It was not until his early twenties, after a growth spurt and years of streetball, that he discovered the online dunking community through videos of Steven Celi, Isaiah Rivera, and Jordan Kilganon. Their creativity inspired him to pursue dunking seriously rather than just as a basketball side skill.
Connor made a deliberate choice to give dunking two full years of dedicated effort. He left basketball behind, started working for his father, and began following Kilganon’s Bounce Kit program. Weight training, consistent jumping, and better nutrition added six inches to his vertical in just six months. He also connected with ATG coach Ben Patrick to address mobility and strength deficits. A trip to Canada to train directly with Kilganon deepened his understanding of dunking mechanics even further. After nearly two years of relentless work, he arrived at his first Dunk Camp ready to test himself against the best in the world.
The Dunk Camp Breakthrough That Put Him on the Map
Connor’s performance at Dunk Camp was a genuine turning point. In a warm-up session he hit a perfect between-the-legs lob dunk on his first attempt, which shocked the established dunkers watching. He went on to win the camp’s dunk contest by landing a Krown dunk (double honeydip reverse), a long-range windmill, and a reverse Dubble Up (Dubble Up X). The exposure from that contest, including highlight mixes on Dunkademics, led to invitations to international contests and FIBA 3×3 shows. He eventually moved to Florida to work with ATG and trained more consistently than ever, pushing his vertical into the high forties by 2022.
Training Philosophy That Every Dunker Should Hear
The training portion of this conversation was some of the best content we have put out on this podcast. Connor emphasized that effective training is goal-dependent and highly individualized. Beginners can make huge strides by simply lifting, playing their sport, and jumping often. But as athletes advance, progress slows and training has to address specific weaknesses, whether that means supermaximal eccentrics, isometrics, concentric power work, or building work capacity. He urged coaches to identify each client’s actual needs rather than copying generic programs off the internet. He also advocated for tracking metrics like body weight, resting heart rate, one-rep maxes, and sprint times to determine whether your training is actually working or if you have stalled. His point about flexibility was one that stuck with me: full range of motion squats and split squats build resilient tissues and help prevent injuries over a long career, and he personally stretches toward achieving front and side splits because he believes hamstring flexibility speeds up between-the-legs dunks by allowing a higher knee drive.
Signature Dunks and the Dubble Up Debate
Connor has created and landed several original dunks that went viral and earned him recognition on SportsCenter. His hide-and-seek involves catching a lob, wrapping the ball behind his back and off the backboard to his other hand before finishing. He also does a Dwight Howard-inspired tap dunk that combines a 180/360 spin with a backboard tap, and a scoop scorpion that is exactly as wild as it sounds. We also got into the controversy around Dubble Up dunks, where a dunker receives a handoff above the head from someone they jump over. Connor enjoys performing them in shows but believes they are sometimes overscored in competitions. His take was that off-the-bounce or off-dribble dunks should be valued more highly than handoff versions because they require significantly more precision.
Long-Term Vision: Dunking Into His Sixties
What I respected most about Connor was his long-term mindset. His goals include regaining a 48-inch vertical or higher, squatting 2.25 times his body weight, and cleaning roughly 1.5 times his body weight. But beyond the numbers, he wants to be dunking in his sixties. He sees this as a lifelong pursuit and wants to model healthy training habits for others. Going through cancer treatment reinforced the importance of patience, consistency, and empathy in everything he does. He told us he no longer chases titles or validation. He just wants to refine his craft, help others improve, and contribute better training knowledge to the dunking community. That perspective, especially coming from someone who had his entire athletic identity threatened by a cancer diagnosis, was genuinely inspiring to hear.