Quick disclaimer before we get into it: none of this is official. There’s no governing body for dunking and no standardized rulebook that everyone agrees on. What follows is simply how I do it. It’s the way I notate rim heights and spell dunk names after years of training, competing, watching film, and being around other dunkers. This is my personal convention, not the law. As the sport grows and becomes more standardized this will probably change, and I’ll update this page as it does. For now, this is how I do it.
Why this page exists
Dunking grew up as a community-driven sport. Most of the language around it (the names of the moves, how we talk about rim height, what actually counts) came from dunkers themselves through contests, video parts, forums, and social media, not from any official source. So spelling and terminology naturally vary from person to person. I wanted one place that documents how I personally write and talk about this stuff so my videos, descriptions, and posts stay consistent.
Rim Heights
I always write rim heights with a foot mark, decimal inches, and a closing inch mark, with no fractions and no spaces. A rim measured at nine feet, ten and a half inches is written 9’10.5″, not 9’10 1/2 or 9 ft 10.5 in.
Examples of the format: 9’11.25″, 9’10.5″, 9’9.75″. A full regulation rim is written 10′ or 10ft.
A note on what counts: 9’10.5″ is generally where people start counting a dunk. I’ll count one at that height while still working to land it consistently on a taller rim. The more historic or legendary the dunk, the more the exact height matters to me. For a real milestone move I’d want it on a higher rim before I felt fully good about claiming it.
Dunk Names
I capitalize dunk names, always, even mid-sentence and even in casual writing. A dunk name gets treated like a proper name. So it’s a Windmill, an Eastbay, a Lost and Found, never a windmill or an eastbay.
Here’s how I spell the terms that come up most often. This list is a starting point, and I’ll keep adding to it over time.
Eastbay: Between the legs, known as an Eastbay dunk. One word, always capitalized.
360 Eastbay: A between-the-legs taken with a full 360 spin. Written as 360 Eastbay.
Dubble Up: Spelled Dubble Up, not “Double Up.”
Off-Dribble: Taking off into the dunk straight out of a dribble. Always hyphenated.
Off-Lob: Catching a lob or self-toss and finishing. Always hyphenated.
Lost and Found: Always written out in full and capitalized.
Underboth: Under both legs. One word, always capitalized.
A living document
Like I said up top, this isn’t a rulebook. It’s my notation, and dunk terminology is still evolving. I’ll keep this page updated as I lock in more terms and as the sport standardizes. If something here looks different from how you write it, that’s kind of the point: there’s no official version yet.