I didn't play ball in high school.  I was "short" and slow.  I grew about three inches to 6' 2" in six months my freshman year in college.  Basketball became a lot more fun.  For a while I could fairly consistently dunk a women's ball.  A volleyball was easy.  My hands aren't big enough to palm a men's basketball.  And I could only do it with a running start jumping off by right leg.  I doubt I've ever touched the rim from a flat footed stance.

I quit trying to dunk the ball when I about 24 or 25.  I was in the gym getting ready for Sunday afternoon ball and everyone was testing out their jumping skills.  I didn't have a ball in my hand but took a running jump up to the rim and was hanging on it with both hands.  Momentum took my legs and brought them to what felt like was the height of the rim.  My hands slipped and I landed on the ground from 8-10 feet up in a push up position.  Instant pain.  I waited a few weeks for x-rays and they diagnosed it as a bone bruise.  15 years later I injured the same wrist and when the orthopedic doctor was reviewing the MRI he asked me how I broke my wrist the first time.  No wonder it hurt for 6 months!.......the second time it hurt for 6 months too!

I'm 41 now and have transformed myself into a runner.  Jumping is about the most foreign thing my body can do now.  Last time I tried to get up to the rim was embarrassing.