We’ve been back from Colombia for over 2 weeks and I am just now getting a chance to write the full recap for our travels. I do apologize for the tardiness, we’ve been incredibly busy going through over 2,000 photos before we uploaded them to the gallery and about 200+ video clips. With that being said, let’s do a recap of what we’ve done while in South America.
Our trip to South America was to showcase our international athletic talents as well as work with local organizations to help bring awareness of some of the problems the youth are being faced with in their communities.
BOGOTA
The capital of Colombia and also our headquarters while in South America. With the high elevation, Bogota, was much cooler & wetter than the other cities we visited.
On our first event, we were introduced to the crowd with our signature Macleem music and even had a smoke machine going; reminded us of the Dave Chapelle skit about Charlie Murphy playing Prince. The crowd loved it though, the highlight of that night was having the kids try and copy the dribbling moves that Jay performed. The following days we visited several schools where we spoke with the students about remaining positive in the face of adversity and working hard to accomplishing their dreams. Of course every place we went we played a few fun games of 3-on-3 and a few brave kids played Jay 1-on-1. At one school we ran through a tunnel of balloons being waves at us by the students, while Sirius (made famous by the Chicago Bulls of the Michael Jordan era) played over the outdoor speakers. With the local news stations covering the event, we ended the performance with No He Didn’t dunking over the school’s principal and 6 kids!
We had the pleasure of having a pre-game home cooked meal from a friend of our host. First promotional stop on the Hooptainers Colombian Goodwill Tour was to a visit a members of a church in Bogota. We played a fun filled 3-on-3 with several attendants and then ended the show with No He Didn’t dunking over 3 guests and then another dunk over a blindfolded member in the chair. Afterwards, we thanked them for coming and spoke about the importance of working together and believing in yourself. We spent over an hour posing for photos, autographing posters, cards and t-shirts.
Jay & K-Ups will be joining Sports Power for a good will trip to Colombia for several days. They will be taking part in several good will games against professional teams, as well as host youth skills camps & clinics.
In recent years, Sports Power & Macleem have come together to do athletic camps and games in several countries (Liberia & Ukraine were our most recent ventures). Sports Power is a great organization that we are proud to be affiliated with.
Thank you to all of the Cathedral High School (Phantoms) students,staff,alumni and special guest who came out to last night’s event.
The Hooptainers didn’t have their big men (K-Ups, Now U Know) but that did not stop them from putting on a clinic. With assistance from Team Flight Brothers (Jonesy & Werm), they were able to defeat the Phantoms 113-123 in what was a fast paced shootout from start to finish.
Setup King was the MVP of the game with 40 points, as he torched the alumni from downtown with 12 bombs. Jay had 15 assists, No He Didn’t finished with 28 and had several spectacular dunks and Ice had countless highlights. Gil, from Advantage Basketball, provided quality back court support for the Hooptainer team as well.
R&B star, Rudo, performed his latest hit (“Take Flight”) during half time and The Rej3ctz made the crowd do the Cat Daddy. Rudo also did a track exclusively for us, we’ll be sharing it with you very shortly!
Florian Schneider‘s client list is literally a who’s who in Hollywood and corporate America. He’s worked with ABC, Def Jam, HBO, and even Vitamin Water (just to name a few). Our very own, K-Ups recently did a photo shoot with renowned photographer. From the blacktop to the runway, Hooptainers are everywhere. Nice shot, K!
Curt Pickering and J Boogie organized a showcase at Oakwood Park this weekend to display the talent the league has to offer. Talent there was! 7 footers, amazing athletes, lightning speed guards and great camaraderie. VBL Sunblock Team came and represent along with The Grinch. The Refs were at their best and got us for every call. We lost our first game and won our 2nd with a buzzer beater by the man they call “porky” from a great pass under the basket from “crackers and cheese”. J Boogie came up with a big 4pt play to give his team a 1 pt lead with 8 sec on the clock. We had a blast measuring ourselves once again at a professional level and showing off what Sunblock is made of. – Nick Ansom
Winter is here but that doesn’t mean the serious competition from the summer leagues is gone. We’re just bringing it indoors. This Saturday, Dec. 11th we will be hosting our Real Game Hoops Showcase, featuring the Hooptainers and several teams from the VBL, EBA & WCBL. Games will be from 10am – 3pm at the Oakwood Rec Center.
Oakwood Rec Center
767 California Ave
Venice, CA 90291
Hooptainers participated in several exhibition games with the VBL crew this week at the Staples Center. The video is just a warm up for whats going to happen this Summer in Venice.
On our first event, we were introduced to the crowd with our signature Macleem music and even had a smoke machine going; reminded us of the Dave Chapelle skit about Charlie Murphy playing Prince. The crowd loved it though, the highlight of that night was having the kids try and copy the dribbling moves that Jay performed. The following days we visited several schools where we spoke with the students about remaining positive in the face of adversity and working hard to accomplishing their dreams. Of course every place we went we played a few fun games of 3-on-3 and a few brave kids played Jay 1-on-1. At one school we ran through a tunnel of balloons being waves at us by the students, while Sirius (made famous by the Chicago Bulls of the Michael Jordan era) played over the outdoor speakers. With the local news stations covering the event, we ended the performance with No He Didn’t dunking over the school’s principal and 6 kids!
and The Rej3ctz made the crowd do the Cat Daddy. Rudo also did a track exclusively for us, we’ll be sharing it with you very shortly!
Winter is here but that doesn’t mean the serious competition from the summer leagues is gone. We’re just bringing it indoors. This Saturday, Dec. 11th we will be hosting our Real Game Hoops Showcase, featuring the Hooptainers and several teams from the VBL, EBA & WCBL. Games will be from 10am – 3pm at the 
