Kobe Bryant took to the basketball court in Shanghai this past week to help 30 young players realize their potential and narrow the field to 12 finalists as the Nike RISE campaign entered its final phase of the summer-long competition.
With RISE, Nike promotes the importance of believing in oneself and persevering to achieve dreams. Nike provided on-court and online mentorship and training to kids throughout China during the campaign.
At the beginning of the summer, basketball-loving kids were invited to participate in the draft phase of RISE by submitting a 30-second basketball-themed video. During the first mentor phase, LeBron James visited Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taipei and Kaohsiung to help players improve their performance while selecting the first 30 players from the thousands who submitted entries.
Bryant hosted those 30 players who came from 27 different cities at a state-of-the-art basketball facility in Shanghai appropriately dubbed the House of Mamba. The House of Mamba featured a full-sized LED basketball court —the first of its kind — bringing graphics, video and player-tracking to life. The court utilized motion-tracking and reactive LED visualization to train and challenge the players through authentic drills based on Bryant’s own training.
The remaining 12 RISE players will compete in the Final held at Wukesong Basketball Park in Beijing on Aug. 16. The three winners from the Final will participate in the Nike World Basketball Festival in Barcelona Sept. 5-7.
Source: Nike, Inc.
