Hi, I am Piotr Zawiślak. I am a professional dunker from Poland, I am 18 years old, and I am one of only 13 people in the world to earn The Dunk Camp Black Band, which is the highest rank in dunking. This is the first post on my new site, and I wanted it to be about something that meant a lot to me: my week at The Dunk Camp in Utah.
For a long time I have watched dunk content coming out of the United States. The contests, the camps, the community. Getting the chance to fly over and be part of The Dunk Camp in person was something I had wanted for a while. I am from Poland and I compete all over Europe and the world, so being in a room full of American dunkers I had only seen online was special.
One of the Best Weeks of My Life
I will be honest, the week went better than I could have hoped. I got to dunk with so many talented people, including Nathan “Hoopin Nate” Kenney and the rest of the crew. Jordan was hyping me up, the room was going crazy after my dunks, and I felt the respect from people whose work I have admired for years. That is not something I take for granted. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to dunk with all of them.
My style is different from a lot of the American dunkers. That is part of what makes it fun. We all arrive at the same rim from different directions, and when you put us in one gym, everyone pushes each other higher.
Meeting Dylan Haugen
One of the people I was most happy to finally meet was Dylan Haugen. Dylan is 18 like me, our birthdays are only two days apart, and he is one of the best young dunkers in America. We had talked online, but meeting in person was different. He competes in American contests and in DunkMan, Shaq’s league, and I am out here in Europe doing contests around the world. Two different paths, same sport, same age.
What he said about why he likes connecting with dunkers from other places stuck with me.
“So super cool to always connect with people, who’s just different, man. The life, the things you do are super cool.”
Dylan Haugen
I feel the same way about him. You can read Dylan’s side of our meeting on his site, and we also sat down for a Dunk Talk conversation about linking up. It was awesome to finally meet him, and I am glad the whole thing is on video.
What Is Next
This site is where I will share my dunks, my contests, and my story going forward, from Poland to the rest of the world. Dylan and his team helped me get it started, and they explained the idea behind it in their breakdown of building my presence from one interview. If you are a dunk fan who has not come across my dunks yet, there is a bit on why that is in this Dunker Spotlight feature. Watch the clip above, and thank you for being here for the first one.