By Bo Humphries

March 29, 2006

On a clear, hot, summer day, you can hear lawnmowers, children yelling, or simply a breeze rustling the leaves of trees. However, walk into one particular backyard in Glenville, Pennsylvania, and you will hear something completely different. Rock 'n' Roll, cries of despair and triumph, and splashes. Bodies fly through the air as these titans of competition battle it out for poolside supremacy. A lone floating hoop rocks gently in the waves when out of nowhere comes another body thrashing through the air to sink a shot. It is not swimming and it is not basketball. It is the new sport that is changing the face of backyard athletics. It is hydrodunk.

What is hydrodunk? As defined by one of the original founders, Andrew Hauser, "Hydrodunk is a sport where dunkers jump into a pool from a diving board or from the side of the pool. Dunkers do tricks in the air and then try to successfully dunk the ball through the hoop." It all started 4 summers ago when Andrew's friends were playing normal water basketball. It was Andrew's brother, who has become known as "El Diablo del Dunko", who had the brilliant idea to steal the ball and dunk. Since then, it has become an annual tradition in the Hauser household to hydrodunk. Its participants view it as a major part of their summer activities.

They spend the off-season thinking of new moves to show off come competition time and are often found retelling past glories among their close circle of comrades.

"It's quite a process," says Andrew, who is also known as Speedy, "to start, you have to think about the move you want to pull off. Then, visualize it, plan out exactly how it is supposed to look. And lastly, make it happen. Don't think of anything else but the 'now' dunk." The consensus is, if there is no passion behind the dunk then the dunk is not any good. "A good Hydrodunker knows what they are capable of and pushes themselves past that point. A pool, imagination, a ball, and a basket are all one needs to hydrodunk. The rest is just chalked up to practice. A good hydrodunker can dunk in any condition. Any pool, anytime, anywhere."

Hydrodunking has become such a phenomenon that there are websites and several articles publish via the web that can attest to the greatness of this fledgling sport. The videos are spectacular, the people kind and open to newcomers into the sport, and the sport is easily taken up by any and all. It is the perfect sport. The original hydrodunkers are still around and they still meet every summer on hot days in a backyard pool; so while it may all seem very small and insignificant, hydrodunking has changed the lives and created everlasting memories for many.



{Editor's Note - This article was written as an assignment for an English class at one of this nations more prestigious undergraduate colleges. The professor was so impressed, that he sent us a copy straight away with the message "If I do not recieve proof that your sport actually exists, Mr. Humphries will be expelled." Needless to say, we refused to reply on principle; any college prof who does not already know about Hydrodunk ought to have his tenure revoked. Also, Bo is Speedy's roommate. - JMC}