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photo/Lisa
Ventre
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First:
Practice, practice, practice. People
ask me how I got my legs to the point where I could jump like I do (a
42-inch vertical leap). It was all God-given. I didn't even start lifting
weights until I got to UC. I could tell the kids not to waste all their
time trying to dunk until I was blue in the face, but it is too exciting.
Instead I tell them to work as hard as they can at it. If you aspire to
dunk, to be a great leaper, don't stop short. Just keep trying. And probably
on that 52nd try, when your legs are dead, that will be the time.
Second:
Bring it with style. There is an art to dunking. It
is not just running and jumping. That is for the kids. I took the dunk
and perfected it. I turned it into something people will remember me for.
The most important thing is your energy. The crowd needs to see it in
your face, the look in your eye, your body language. Fans expect the big-time,
high-flashing dunk. One dunk like that can satisfy a whole stadium. And
that is how much energy and style I try to put into it.
Third:
Be creative. A lot of people remember when I dunked over three
ball racks in the NCAA dunk contest. But that was very old for me. I did
that in a Nike Invitational dunk contest in 10th grade. Even before that
I jumped three people and dunked in the eighth grade at the Hoop-it-up
tournament in Cleveland. The last original dunk I did was when I jumped
over the golf cart at Midnight Madness in '99.
Fourth: Finish
with a celebration. Sometimes I point to the crowd.
Sometimes I just give a look or wave hands. Or sometimes I run around
the court like a rabid dog.
Melvin Levett continues to excite fans with spectacular
jams as a player for the Kentucky ProCats in the American Basketball Association.
("I'm still working on getting back to the NBA.") Bearcat fans
will remember Levett as the hero of UC's upset of No. 1-ranked Duke in
'99 when he slammed home the game-winning basket with a second to play.
He also set the UC single-game record for 3-point field goals when he
made 10 against Eastern Kentucky.
LINK: Read more about Levett on the ProCats site.
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