Software developer scores 'definitely a legit dunk' to avoid getting embarrassing tattoo

A software engineer in Calgary can finally say that yes, he can slam dunk.

Paul Thorsteinson, 41, has been trying for a year to master the basketball shot all to raise money for the Alberta Children's Hospital.

He set the deadline as the end of March, or else he'd have to tattoo the Nike jumpman logo on his lower back.

Now, halfway through March, he's successfully avoided an embarrassing lifelong reminder of failure.

"It wasn't earth-shattering by any means, but it was definitely a legit dunk," Thorsteinson told theCalgary Eyeopeneron Wednesday.

41-year-old nails first slam dunk

7 years ago

Duration 0:31

Paul Thorsteinson has been learning a basketball trick to raise money for a good cause

Last weekend, he went out shooting hoops with his wife and kept missing the shots. But Monday night, a co-worker gave him a hand "and I nailed it."

"After Saturday I thought, 'Oh, I don't know if I can do it.' But I went with somebody who can throw a little bit better alley-oops than my wife. No offence, she's not a ball player," Thorsteinson said with a chuckle.

'A lot of relief'

He's been working toward this for a year now, training regularly and practising his shots. He even had a dunking tutorial from some University of Calgary Dinos basketball players. They gave his performance mixed reviews andCoach Dan Vanhoorensaid he worried he couldn't do it due to an ankle injury.

When Thorsteinson finally scored this week, he felt"a lot of relief."

"As I did it, I could hear the guy who was helping me out. He went absolutely nuts," Thorsteinson said.

"The thing is, after putting a year of your life into that, and blood, sweat and tears, I kind of thought I was accustomed,ready for the fact that I might have a tattoo.

"To actually do it was amazing because it would have felt really hard to acknowledge that the whole year went into something that didn't pan out."

Bet raised

Now that he's succeeded in avoiding the tattoo, he has raised the bet. If donors can double the amount he has now $3,854 he'll still get the tattoo, which would be his first.

In response to Eyeopener host David Gray, he promises to also get the words "One Time Slam" tattooed if the donations reach $10,000.

This is the last time Thorsteinson says he'll offer up such a high-stakes challenge. Now, without all that pressure, he says he might practise how to "slam it down with more authority."

With files from Paul Karchut and theCalgary Eyeopener.

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