Make Something is a series of creative art/design workshops for youth now being held during the World Basketball Festival in New York City. Sport and Art mixed with summertime in the NYC. Inspiration is flowing!! We’re ready to make something, how about you??

Love this poster-making class especially (pictured above), and wish we could be there ourselves to learn a few tips for some new Hope 81 posters. This video gave us a quick look at how to get the job done right -- with poster design teacher Andrew Jeffrey Wright. Great job with the kids, Andrew!

The month-long Make Something workshop schedule (July 12- Aug. 17) has lots of really cool stuff for kids to get involved in. Things like

flag & banner making
documentary photo & video lessons
mural design
shoe & ball design

All of the work will be featured on display during the World Basketball Festival events, games, tournaments, etc. An empowering experience for the kids (and Nike, too!). Who knows, maybe they will discover the next great shoe design idea and we’ll be wearing them on the streets of Tokyo someday...

If you are in the NYC area, you may still have time to get involved. Check the workshop schedule and contact the MS organizers for more info. And more info on the hoops events available on the Nike World Basketball Festival site.

Tags: Nike, World Basketball Festival, NYC, Make Something, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Art, Design, Youth, Basketball, Sport, Graphic artist, Tokyo, Japan, Hope 81

All Day Streetball Tournament (Tokyo)
07.31 ~ 08.1.2010

Summer basketball in Tokyo, Japan! 56 teams getting ready to fight for the 23rd All Day championship this weekend. We’ve got a few of our Rising Suns in the tournament, guys like RS2010 team captain Shuji Takei (a.k.a. ST) with team Underdog, and Keita Suzuki (K-TA) with F Squad. We’ll be cheering for a bunch of guys from our Rising Suns player pool as well, all going for the championship with their local club teams. And hey, there’s also a “Cat Fight” girls streetball tournament going on. The girls’ teams have really started to hold it down lately, so we’re looking forward to watching those games for sure! Good luck to all the teams, and get that W.

For more info about team registration, videos, etc., go to the All Day site
Keep rising, Japan!

Tags: All Day, Nike, Komposition, Tokyo, Japan, Basketball, Streetball, BJ League, JBL, Rising Suns, Shuji Takei, Somecity, Legends, Hope 81

Legendary dunker Kadour Ziani (SLAM NATION/ZIANIMAL) backstage with Quai 54 staff

Finally, some footage from our Game Day at Palais de Tokyo, under the shadows of the Eiffel Tower. In this new video clip, check out some exclusive interviews with dunk/performance legend Kadour Ziani, French hoops star Ali Traorè, Chris Paul going one-on-one with a Quai 54 referee, 3-point shootout with Rising Suns’ Tru Ninja, and much more...

Big thanks to Hammadoun Sidibè and all his crew at Quai 54 for giving our Rising Suns this opportunity to get to know so many great superstars in the game of basketball. Hopefully with a taste of this top-level international basketball tournament (and soaking up the atmosphere from all of our ‘behind the scenes’ experiences as well), it will be the inspiration Japan needs to start rising up. The first step is obviously to get our first win at Quai 54. That day will come, no doubt. Still rising!

RS2010
ジェイソン

Tags: Hope 81, Rising Suns, Basketball, Streetball, Quai 54, Paris, France, BJ League, JBL, Darin Maki, Antoine Broxsie, Kenji Hilke, Shuji Takei, Michael Jordan, Asia, Ali Traore, Kadour Ziani, Nicolas Batum, Nike, House of Hoops

The Rising Suns 2010 journey started about a year ago, all culminating with a one-week visit to the Quai 54 International Streetball Championships (June 21-29) in Paris, France. For our Rising Suns du Japon, the experience was awesome, challenging, difficult, heart-breaking, amazing, inspiring, and then some. Here’s a full recap of how it went down, with Rising Suns team organizer Jason Hutson’s inside views of the entire trip-- from start to finish:


Day 1: Travel to Paris
Still running around trying to get our funds in order, came up short on the fundraising and sponsorship-- not quite as bad as last year though... Anyways, looks like I will have to extend my credit limit and make sure we have enough money to survive the week. Running to the train station with 50lb bags and five minutes before my express train to Narita. Why am I always doing this?? I like the feeling of pressure situations, I guess. At the airport the team is all there waiting for me, and we fly out of gate 81. Hey, 81, that's us! Japan's country code and our organization-- Hope 81. Destiny for the Rising Suns du Japon! We have a stopover in Hong Kong, the team goes crazy when they see a Muji store... Last chance to buy Japanese snacks before we arrive in Paris.

Day 2: Welcome to Courbevoie
Yace meets us at the airport, and Antoine is with him already when he finds us. Big relief to see our 6'11" center there in Paris, ready to play. No missed flights, no lost baggage, everybody ready. Here we go! Ride in the Quai 54 van to our hotel in the north side of Paris called Courbevoie. It's right down the Seine river from the old Quai 54 court @ Levallois. Beautiful morning, we walk around the neighborhood, find a bakery and everybody buys some pan au chocolat. Antoine's excited about eating crepes while he's here.

Later, we walk along the river to Levallois court and try to get loose. Some of our guys play pickup. The pro guys don't want to play outdoors so they watch from the sidelines. One of our players leaves without letting me know first, which is frustrating since we don't get a chance to walk through our plays. We wrap things up and walk over to Yace's neighborhood in Genevilliers for kebab sandwiches and pizza for dinner on the patio. Play ball till 9:30pm, sunset dinner at 10:30pm, this is summer in Paris!

Day 3: Challenge Day
We have our first breakfast meeting, most of the players show up, talk about our week ahead, and try to see how the players are feeling. Jump on a bus and head to Stade Coubertin, a pro gym in Paris where we are supposed to have our first real practice run together. This is really key for us to start building our chemistry, especially since we couldn't go over our plays yesterday at Levallois...continue reading >>> permalink

Tags: Rising Suns, Hope 81, Tokyo, Japan, Paris, France, Hammadoun Sidibe, Michael Jordan, Quai 54, Asia, BJ League, JBL, Darin Maki, Antoine Broxsie, Kenji Hilke, Shuji Takei, George Eddy, Kadour Ziani, Nicolas Batum, Tony Parker, Chris Paul, NBA, Guy Dupuy, Nike, Foot Locker, House of Hoops

We had our first scrimmage last night against a great local club team Giga Spirits. Before the game, I talked briefly with Giga’s head coach, Koyama-san. Really nice guy, and very kind of him to arrange a game for us before we hit Paris. Like the Rising Suns, his team is working on grassroots player development for Japanese hoops. And from what I hear, Giga Spirits have been holding down as the #1 team in Kanagawa for a while. Here’s a look at how we handled our first RS2010 exhibition game:

• The Giga three-point attack had us on our heels most of the first half. We found ourselves down by double-digits at one point.
• Before the game, I reminded our Rising Suns that it was our first chance to run as a team, and that the offense might not come yet. The main things we could do as a team were to play strong defense and rebound the basketball. And that’s exactly what we did.
• We forced 20 turnovers, and out-rebounded our smaller opponents, 40-20.
• To hang tough, and battle back against a quality team like that was a positive way to start things off.
• I know we wont see a team shoot 30 threes in a game in Paris, but at least we tested our will to win last night, and got to know each other a lot more.

There’s only ten more days to go, so every minute we have together on the court is huge for us right now. And that means learning to trust one another...trust, more trust.

After the game, I was thinking about the work Koyama-san is doing with Giga Spirits, and all the other local clubs running a similar kind of system for basketball player development here in Japan. There’s dozens (or hundreds?) of clubs, groups, teams, organizations, companies, agencies, media etc. all looking to grow basketball in Japan. Here’s some of the one’s which I’ve gotten to know and work with personally...in no particular order:

ALL DAY
SOMECITY
LEGENDS
HOOP IN THE HOOD
GYMRATS
8 LEAGUE
JAPAN SPORTS REVOLUTION (JSR)
HOOP HYSTERIA
FIVE STAR
NKS-405
FOR GAME
JAPAN BASKETBALL ACADEMY
BALL TONGUE CAFE
ED ODEVEN/JAPAN TIMES

I honestly believe this could be the structure of a new uprising in J-Hoops. With so many people organizing for action on all different levels, the next step is now for our Rising Suns team to get the win in Paris -- and then bring the global spotlight to focus on Japan’s rising basketball culture. This journey to Paris is for all J-players, streetballers, kids at the park, NBA dreamers, coaches, scouts, agents, league officials,JABBA federation heads, and Mr. Aso himself. The UPRISING is here and we’re not going away quietly...so let us know if you’d like to collaborate, from wherever you are.

Tonight, I’ll be heading down to the Somecity event Da Bash! in Kawasaki/Club Citta, to watch a few of our guys (Lono, Micky, K-TA and Kenji) represent the RS2010 squad against some local street teams. Then tomorrow, Rising Suns team captain ST will return to his old neighborhood for the Legends Stage 3 streetball event. Support the team, and support the community. Should be a fun weekend. Altogether, we are the Uprising.

***Remember: this Sunday night 6/13 @ Smoke in Harajuku, we will hold our annual party for the Rising Suns team trip to Paris. Please come have fun, and help us raise the remaining funds we need to get there***

ジェイソン
RS2010

Tags: Basketball, Streetball, Tokyo, Japan, Hope 81, Rising Suns, Quai 54, Paris, France, Michael Jordan, BJ League, JBL, Asia, All Day, Nike, Somecity, Legends, Hoop in the Hood, 8 League, NKS-405, Clutch Times, Hoop Hysteric, Ed Odeven, Japan Times, NBA, Gymrats, Japan Basketball Revolution, Japan Basketball Academy, Brex, Five Star, Giga Spirits

FINAL ROUND @ Yoyogi Park (4/25): Underdog vs. Da Crew

This past weekend, we were out at the Nike-sponsored All Day streetball tournament in Tokyo, supporting several current members of our Rising Suns 日本代表 Player Pool (each member playing for their individual club teams). In total, there were about 40-50 teams from all different skill levels, mens and womens brackets, and all playing for the love of the game. Not to mention, a free pair of shoes for the winners.

Throughout the two-day/single-elimination event, we were on the lookout for a few last-minute recruits to help represent Japan at the QUAI 54 International Streetball Championship in Paris. Here’s how it all went down, and a few things that caught our attention:

First, we found out that our Rising Suns post players need a lot more work. Our bigs were out-muscled and eliminated in the early rounds, and then had to watch from the sidelines the rest of the way. Not a good feeling...and you know we were back in the gym working hard, the very same day. Losing tastes bad. It makes you want to work harder. RISE UP! End of story.

We did find some quality big-man talent on a team called the OGN All-Stars, which is mostly former Chuo University players (and historically big in the post), and one player recently signing with the Takamatsu Five Arrows of the BJ League. The two teams from Nagoya were big, too (and much bigger than their opponents), but both failed to get out of the early rounds after going down by double-digits and never recovering. Two teams from the Yokota/ Yokosuka military bases had strong lineups with fresh players (fresh, as in their first time to ever play in the tournament, and strong). They each made it deep into the quarterfinals and semi-finals, but went down after mental mistakes and turnovers late in the games. Da Crew (which has two of our player pool members) battled hard with two consecutive overtime comebacks to get to the finals vs. Underdog. When they got there, they just didn’t have anything left in the tank to get the win. Not to mention, Underdog played ferocious D, as the dogs they are. They scratched/clawed/bit/barked their way to another All Day championship.

One final observation: having an unusually large lineup of tall, lanky players at almost every position (and one member in our player pool, as well as a former Rising Suns 2009 team member/JBL player), Underdog creates mismatches for most teams and is always tough to handle. Could it be a sign of Japanese basketball -- at the grassroots level-- moving towards a bigger, more physical game? Looking back at the teams who played in the tournament five years ago, back when All Day first started, basically none of the Japanese teams were able to bring that physical/aggressive kind of game. The teams we see now are definitely bigger, stronger, and holding their own against teams with big foreign players like Yokosuka/Yakota, Nagoya and Da Crew. Japan still has a long way to go, but at least its something to build upon.

That’s about it. Don’t forget, we are counting down to the 3rd and final tryout for our Rising Suns team.
If you think you’ve got the game, come battle it out next week!

See the Rising Suns blog for more info about time and place, etc.
For more on the Nike All Day Tournament, check the official homepage (in Japanese)

Tags: Basketball, Streetball, Tokyo, Japan, Nike, All Day, Tournament, Rising Suns, Quai 54, BJ League, JBL, Yoyogi Park, Hope 81