UNIVERSLAM 2006

Kadour Ziani wakes up everyday in an unfamiliar place, but with a familiar desire. He wants to dunk a basketball, and he wants to do it in a way that people will always remember. The 5-foot-11, 33-year-old Ziani has become famous for his dunks in contests he's participated in across the world and says he's a celebrity in his native France. Ziani recently arrived in Bloomington -- which he called the "basketball capital of the world" -- with no money but a lifetime's worth of riches. He's not looking for money or fame, though. All he wants to do is share his abilities and philosophies with the world. \n"I'm a legend in working," Ziani said. "I'm famous all around the world. All the people think I have the life of a star. But I'm a ghost because I exist in the imagination of the people. For me, it's a good success. I have 200,000 billion dollars in my bank. My only material is my heart and my body."\nIt didn't take long for Ziani's celebrity to reach beyond France. And when it did, Aaron Allen picked up on it right away. The IU senior and aspiring filmmaker runs "Flying 101," a company he started that has already produced several short films about dunkers. Allen first witnessed Ziani's abilities during his freshman year at IU and said he'll never forget the reaction it sparked in him.\n"He missed a 720 attempt (two complete body rotations in the air, into a dunk) and I was like, 'Uh, OK,'" Allen said. "But then the second time my friend said, 'You really gotta see this dunk that he does,' and it was the double windmill. I started literally screaming at the top of my lungs in my dorm, yelling, 'Oh my God! Oh my God!' I thought, 'That's not possible. It had to be computer-animated. There was no way.'"\nAllen finally met Ziani during his time in the IU-Oxford University exchange program when he traveled to France and witnessed first-hand what the dunker could do. He invited Ziani to live with him and his family so he could feature Ziani in his new documentary.\n"This is my first time here in Bloomington and America, and it's my home," said Ziani, who grew up with six sisters and five brothers. "I have no gym to practice. I'm famous, but I'm poor. Here I don't want recognition, I want to be someone ordinary. ... Dunk taught me how to be a human being, and how to respect others. I'm ready to change history and to make the 720 (dunk) in America."\nA world of his own\nBesides the 720, Ziani's "kick the rim" dunk has become his signature, and he wants to use the documentary to spread the word about it. The dunk has only been possible, though, because of the 33-year-old's daily routine, which is unlike most adults his age. Every morning Ziani stretches on the steps of the Allen home and greets them by saying, "Good to see you're still alive." He uses everything and anything that he can to keep in shape and to remain limber enough to perform his repertoire of dunks.\n"It's important to know that he hasn't been using gyms," said Ron Allen, Aaron's father. "He uses jungle gyms in the parks and then climbs a tree, 40 to 50 feet up there, and just looks out at the world. It's amazing what he does and how he uses things for training that other people wouldn't use. So he adapts. He takes what he can, and he uses it."\nZiani's daily routine seems to mirror his life; he takes what he has and uses it in whatever way he can. While many people around the world can dunk a basketball, for Ziani, it's more than just a ball passing through a net.\nIt's a vision, Ziani said, one that reaches beyond just dunking a basketball. He calls it "Universlam," and through dunking he hopes to bridge societal and social gaps that exist in the world. He wants to bring basketball to countries where it is not exposed as much, such as the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Africa and Asia.\n"Universlam is a concept that he has," Ron Allen said. "It's a nonprofit organization that he wants to start and hopefully get support from NBA players and from those who want to help ... Basketball is popular around the world, but a lot of these people don't have exposure, they have dreams. Part of it is exposing them to dunking and basketball, but more importantly is to try and get them to try for their dream."\nthe future\nDevin Thompson, known as "Mr. Biz" in the dunking world, had the opportunity to practice with Ziani Oct. 8 at the Bloomington Sportsplex.\n"For somebody so short, he sure jumps a hell of a lot high," Thompson said.\n"How old are you?" Thompson asked Ziani.\n"33 years old," Ziani responded.\n"Like three, three?" the 25-year-old Thompson asked, as he held out three fingers on each hand. "I hope I can still do it like him when I'm his age."\nAllen's documentary -- which could be out as early as December -- may or may not be the end of the road for Ziani. But even if it is, Ziani knows exactly how far he has come in his life.\n"It used to be that my dream was Michael Jordan's reality," Ziani said. "But now my reality is Michael Jordan's dream"