Nathaniel “Hoopin Nate” Kenney
I’m a 5′9″ dunk artist from Omaha, Nebraska. I turned a plastic mini-hoop hung on a kitchen door into a global brand with more than a billion views, and I’m taking that same creativity from the mini-hoop to full 10-foot rims.
It started on a kitchen door.
My story didn’t start in a professional gym. It started in an Omaha kitchen, with a plastic over-the-door Nerf hoop on a cabinet, a foam ball, a scratched-up wall, and a phone camera. The setting was ordinary. The ambition was not.
Those early clips went viral, and they kept climbing until they passed a billion views across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. People started calling me the best mini-hoop dunker of all time. I never treated it as a gimmick. It is a craft: precision, footwork, angles, pacing, and the editing and storytelling that go with it.
I am still the same kid who just wanted to dunk in the kitchen. The only difference is now the world is watching.
Three rims, one obsession
I have built a game across every kind of rim, from tight indoor spaces to full regulation height.
Mini-hoop mastery
Indoor, precise, high-skill dunking on a six-to-seven-foot rim with a mini ball. The discipline that made me a global name, and the one creators everywhere now imitate.
Low rim
Outdoor low-rim dunking with a regulation ball. The same creativity taken to bigger rims, off a 40-plus-inch vertical at 5′9″.
Full 10-foot
The next chapter. I am translating everything I built on the mini-hoop and low rim to full regulation rims, one new trick at a time.
Creativity beats size.
At 5′9″ I am almost always the smaller athlete in the room, and that is the whole point. Height, size, and where you are from do not decide your ceiling. Consistency and creativity do.
I train my vertical at Going Vertical in Gretna, Nebraska, and as a THP Strength athlete. In 2025 I flew to Florida to train with Isaiah Rivera, widely considered the best dunker in the world, and landed six brand-new trick dunks on a 10-foot rim, some he had never seen done that way. He has said publicly that he thinks I can pass a 50-inch vertical and compete on the world stage.
I made a decision few athletes my age would make: I chose not to play my senior season of high school basketball so I could go all-in on a professional dunking career.
I’m not done yet. This is only the beginning.
From a kitchen hoop to the world stage
The kitchen-door mini-hoop
A foam ball and a plastic rim in an Omaha kitchen turn into a relentless habit and the first viral clips.
A billion views
Mini-hoop creativity explodes across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. I become known as the best mini-hoop dunker alive.
National brands come calling
Gatorade, Google Pixel, Gymshark, and Way of Wade. I co-star with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Druski in Google Pixel’s Greatest Watch Party and appear alongside Michael Jordan for Gatorade.
From mini-hoop to 10-foot rims
I take the same creativity from the mini-hoop to low rims and now full regulation rims.
Six new dunks with Isaiah Rivera
I train in Florida with the best dunker in the world and land six new trick dunks on a 10-foot rim.
Dunk Camp champion
I win the 8-foot division at Dunk Camp 2025 near Salt Lake City with an inverted scorpion no one else at camp would attempt.
Brands and media
National campaigns and screens, alongside some of the biggest names in sports.
Brand partners
Gatorade — official member of the Gatorade Family, featured alongside Michael Jordan in “The Way to Be Great.”
Google Pixel × NBA — “The Greatest Watch Party” with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Druski.
Gymshark and Way of Wade — apparel and lifestyle.
As seen on
Interviewed by the Jimmy Kimmel team, featured on the Washington Wizards pregame show, and reposted by FIBA to 5.3M views.
On the rim and on the road
Quick facts
Book a show, a campaign, or a collab
Brands, event organizers, and fellow creators — every way to reach me lives one click away.