Rising Suns: Grassroots Player Development
Since Hope 81 first launched, we've been working non-stop to grow our player development program in Japan, driven by the question: how will Japanese basketball begin to rise up? The game of basketball is heavily played at schools and clubs nationwide, but not heavily watched by the Japanese media, press, etc. This, in turn, makes for very little fan-base and marketability (and vice versa). When the JBL's Yuta Tabuse became the first Japanese-born player to make an NBA roster with the Phoenix Suns in 2004, there was an exciting basketball buzz in Japan. Just one month into the season, however, he was cut from the team and that buzz soon faded away. The lack of mainstream media support, in combination with a stereotypical view of the Japanese basketball market as being too short or too weak, meant that we were going up against some challenging barriers. Negative perceptions about Japanese basketball (both at home and abroad) are not likely to change without initiating some positive grassroots action from below. We realized we had to find a way to promote more visibility for Japanese hoops, and more opportunities for our players to become exposed to top level international competition. We began by trying to make a difference, one player at a time...

The vision started with our YSA project (connecting Japanese and Chinese streetball youth at the Beijing 2008 Olympics), followed by our Jump Camp strength & conditioning program (provided free-of-charge for dozens of Tokyo youth athletes at Yoyogi Park). Our grassroots efforts then earned us the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to represent Asia at the QUAI 54 International Streetball Championships in Paris, France.

Back in the winter of 2008, when QUAI 54 founder Hammadoun Sidibè was looking to expand his premier/Jordan-brand tournament to include a team from Asia, he called on Hope 81 to help out. We were asked to bring a team to represent Japan at his next QUAI 54 tournament -- in the summer of 2009. We realized this would bring a huge lift to Japanese basketball if aspiring street and pro players could work towards the chance to compete with the world's best in Paris, so we were grateful to receive this rare opportunity from Hammadoun. Over the course of the next several months, we rallied our local basketball community and put together a team consisting of pro players from Japan's BJ League and JBL, a few local street legends, and Tokyo-based international players. Our local design community in Tokyo also joined the project to help with logos and web design, as a gesture of support for our Rising Suns team. Together, we decided on the theme of 日本代表 'Represent: Japan!' for our campaign. We held fundraising parties (@Smoke in Harajuku), and gathered a group of sponsors to help with our trip costs. With that energy from our local community, our team of seven players finally made it to the center court at Georges Carpentier stadium in Paris, and played for the chance to be #1 in the world.

Photo from (07/07/09) article in Bounce Magazine

The final score (38-20, in a loss to one of France's top teams La Releve) wasn't as important as the impact we were able to make with our groundbreaking first entry. Rising Suns team captain Shuji Takei's amazing all-around performance earned him the post-game interview. Rising Suns team organizer and Hope 81 founder Jason Hutson was selected for a special feature article in the top French streetball magazine Reverse. And even with the tough loss, the heart we showed on the court earned our team an invitation from the QUAI 54 organizers to return for another chance in 2010. This year's team will be led again by RS team captain Shuji Takei, and backed by an all-new lineup featuring some of the best street and pro players from all over Japan. We've expanded our tryout system to involve the top players from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya this year, in order to make it more competitive and raise the level of play for both our own Rising Suns team and Japanese basketball across the nation.

Represent: Japan!
QUAI 54, Bounce, Reverse, Euroleague, NBA, FIBA...the world is watching.