Jahmani grew up shooting hoops on New York City playgrounds with kids who were much taller, and from a very early age, it was clear he had a gift. In high school he made the varsity basketball team his sophomore year, and he turned down offers to play for several Division II colleges in New York. Jahmani weighs 100 pounds and stands four foot tall, but he is very strong. He is described as ferocious on defense.

For years, Jahmani honed his game in relative obscurity, on some of New York City's most iconic, competitive basketball courts: West 4th, the Goat, the Rucker. But this year, he left Manhattan's Douglass Projects and moved to Los Angeles, where he plays for the Beach Warriors in the world-renowned Venice Basketball League. His teammates call him Mani Fresh, because he is.

But the Beach Warriors are his other team. His main team, the New York Towers, is one of the best dwarf basketball team in the world. The Towers flourished on and off the court.  On the court they assembled a basketball team that would go on to win three straight Dwarf Athletic Association of America (DAAA) national titles from 2010 – 2012, and become the World silver medalists in basketball at the World Games in 2013. Off the court, the Towers took their game to local schools all around the New York area to promote what they called the “Beyond The Rim” outreach program, bringing dwarfism awareness to students, faculty, and parents in those schools.