I met a guy recently who is entering his second season as an acrobatic slam dunker for an NBA team. Let's call him Danny (not his real name).
He mentioned to me that when he saw ACRODUNK on America's Got Talent, he decided he wanted to do what we he saw us doing on the show. It just so happened that his local NBA team was having auditions to form a dunk team and he tried out. He made the team, got through one season and was now speaking to me at an event where he and his teammates were participating in a training session that my teammates and I were facilitating.
As the training session transitioned to the point where Danny and his teammates began watching us rehearse, I noticed the look on Danny's face as he witnessed 4 of the top acrobatic slam dunkers in the world preparing for their show that night.
Gregory Mueller, Jason Skillern, Eddie Ray Johnson IIII and Jesus El were putting on a clinic that not only Danny and his teammates enjoyed but the players and staff of the college team we were performing for were recording on their phone cameras.
I realized what a blessing it is to be on the journey I am currently on. Sadiki Fuller was a member of our team who became the mascot for the Golden State Warriors. While at the Warriors, he trained Jesus and Eddie at the same time that Greg and Jason were being trained in Houston. If Sadiki and I were brothers in the ACRODUNK family, then what I and Danny were witnessing that night were ACRODUNK cousins that had taken things to whole new level.
From Greg Muellers fake out thru the leg dunk that seemed to float horizontally for minutes to Jason Skillern's reverse that made it appear like he jumped from the rafters. From Eddie Johnson's Eagle dunk (front flip with double through the leg transfer) to Jesus El's Pop Tart (toss to front flip to catch dunk) and Freeze Frame dunk ( Strike a pose mid-air dunk), the pre-show audience was getting a rare glimpse of the result of ACRODUNK ingenuity.
There is this trait that runs through the DNA of ACRODUNK that propels those who come through our system to not settle for less than their absolute best when it comes to being innovative and revolutionary.
Danny, his teammates and I witnessed it on this occasion and I was forced to see that I get the opportunity to witness it everytime we hit the floor.
While we may have a set show structure and format which some teams have adopted as their own, I like the fact that guys will style it up from time to time with variations on finishes and passes. Sometimes it's the small things that turn a basic dunk into something much more entertaining. Like a slight turn of the head with the arm at a different angle to make what would have been a weak dunk into a quasi-reverse.
So as I watched Danny take it all in with a smile on his face, I couldn't help but notice that I was smiling too and for the same reason - Watching ACRODUNK perform is inspiring.
BE GREAT!
