I was going to name this column Dunking on Dewy.
Or, should the headline be Dunking With Lewy.
I’ve had a slow start since my initial public pronouncement that I will dunk by mid-July when we, presumably, will hold the 3rd Annual Mike’s Madness charity basketball tournament.
I began training to dunk in late October, got some instruction from a personal trainer, then a bunch of stuff happened that ran me off course: Namely, holiday season, illness and travel.
Between travelling and eating all sorts of sweets and catching pneumonia , I have compressed my training. I will now wait and start Jan. 2 after the holiday parties, dinners, travel etc. are behind me. I would then, I told myself, go on a comprehensive plan involving changing my diet and lots of exercise targeted at vertical leap improvement.
Then I got sick, bad chest congestion and some fever. Doctor said it was ‘pneumonia’ of the walking variety..
After three weeks, I’m still not 100 percent.’
So, this motivation thing can be tricky. I am somewhat skeptical about whether I will be able to train myself to dunk. But not unsure. It’s a win-win because the single best thing you can do for Lewy body dementia is exercise.
I am 6-feet tall, about 180 pounds (which is about 15 or so pounds above my playing weight) and have never dunked, although I have played basketball for decades. In my 20’s I was able to touch the rim, almost grab it. Did I mention I am 59?
I know I need to strengthen my body.
Now I also know I’m going to have to do something more difficult and more powerfull: strengthen my mind.
This is an opinion piece written by Mike Oliver who covers life and death issues. Mike was diagnosed less than three years ago with the fatal brain disease Lewy body dementia.