Inks: FLASH aka g_sk1lls Images: And1 Germany (c/o Laurent Burkart and DJ Silence)
AND1 Germany held a 3x3 basketball competition yesterday, June 23
(Saturday) which was co-presented by “Show Me Your Hoops” in the AND1 Germany
warehouse in Radolfzell.As part of the
event, they also included a 3-point shooting contest, plus an appearance/dunk
show by Beku BBL Slam Dunk champion and AND1 Germany brand endorser Salu Benjamin Tadi aka “Mr. Hangtime”,
with music provided by top spinner DJ
Silence (official AND1 Germany DJ).
I’ve posted some images below courtesy of AND1
Germany’s Laurent Burkart and DJ Silence, grabbed from their respective
Facebook and Instagram accounts. For more news,
images, and information, visit the AND1 Germany Facebook fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/and1germany.
Dunk champion Salu Tadi aka "Mr. Hangtime" getting ready to put on a show.
DJ Silence provided the music for the event.
Shout outs to our frequent collaborator Laurent for
sharing the info.Don’t forget to follow
us on Twitter (@and1ph) for local and international news & updates and LIKE
us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/and1ph).And that’s the 411, And Juan!
Greetings
AND Juans!After three weeks of touring
the Philippines, immersing in our culture, enjoying the scenery and local
dishes, and of course, playing streetball and sharing our love for
the game of hoops, the 2012 Philippine tour of Germany’s Finest comes to a
close.The team (comprised of Enrico Kufuor, Sebastian Köhnert, Marian
Schick, Lars Meyer, Anday Ergen, Emre Ergen, Fabian Greiser,
and PaulGudde) headed back home last Saturday night and brought with them unforgettable
memories of their stay here, and left a promise that they will be back again
next year for the 2013 Germany’s Finest Philippine tour, quite possibly with
more players to join the trip.
This
blog diary is the last of three parts, covering their activities from May 27 - June
9.Click the links below for our previously
published articles:
After the team’s Sunday game in Marikina last May 27, they played a pick
up game against members of the Philippine Air Force on May 28, courtesy of
their coach and team liaison Third
Stocker, who is also a Pinoy.The
team capped off their Manila basketball week with a visit to the renowned Palladium
Bar in New Worlds Hotel on Wednesday night with Flash.
Germany's Finest partying in Palladium with Third Stocker and Flash
The team then departed for a Bacolod trip that
included two games against the locals last June 1 and June 3 (Sunday venue was
the famed West Negros University gym, site of this year’s PBA All Star Weekend).
Boracay was up next in their itinerary, and the
team got a taste of its world-class beaches upon arriving there last June 5.The players even managed to squeeze in a game
before they left for Manila and won that match via a thrilling game winning
three-point shot from GF sharpshooter Sebastian Köhnert (he likes to be
referred to as “Mainit” for his hot shooting
from deep).
Repping hard in Boracay.
Upon their return to Manila last June 7, they
shopped for pasalubong in Greenhills,
San Juan and played a couple more 3-on-3 matches in the evenings near their
condominium in Manila. The most of Germany’s Finest spent their last
night in Manila partying in the exclusive Republiq club in Resorts World and
got a taste of Manila’s nightlife with DJ Vice during the launch party of the
HTC One X with Smart Communications.
Lars Meyer (aka Larry Lawless), Fabian Greiser, and Flash at Republiq
Before they headed back for Germany last
Saturday (June 9), Paul Gudde left us AND Juans with this video clip, giving
some shoutouts to AND1 Philippines and promising to be back again next year for
a bigger and crazier Germany’s Finest 2013 Philippine Tour. Peep the video below:
On behalf of Luis and Mark, AND1 Philippines
co-admins, I would like to extend my huge thanks to the team for allowing me to
exclusively document their 2012 tour and for giving me the chance to act as
some sort of a tour guide (bringing them to places to eat around Metro Manila, clubs
to party out, etc). Hanging out with
Germany’s Finest made me realize that we AND Juans are very lucky to have a
country that is utterly crazy about the game of basketball. We are truly a nation of basketball fanatics,
and even Germany’s Finest players acknowledge it.
Watch out for more And1 Ph news in the local and
international scene by following us on Twitter (@and1ph) and LIKE us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/and1ph). And that’s the 411, And Juan!
As second installment of our “Foreign
Flava” blog feature, we set our sights towards Europe.. and this time the
spotlight is on Germany. I’ve recently
contacted Laurent Burkart, who works
for Sales and Marketing of AND1 Germany, via email and asked him some questions
about this new brand strategy that was just launched in December 2011.
I first got wind of the “__X__ is AND1” material in And1 Germany’s
Facebook page (www.facebook.com/and1germany) and its first salvo featured Salu Benjamin Tadi, winner of the
German Beku BBL Slam Dunk contest just last January 21, 2012. Nicknamed Mr. Hangtime, Salu wore And1 Empire
Mids on route to besting a field of 40 dunkers and subsequently had a
photoshoot to kickstart the ““__X__ is AND1” campaign. [Click HERE for the previous post
re: Salu’s Slam Dunk contest win.]
Hot in the heels of Salu’s feature, DJ Silence
(one of Europe’s finest DJs/mixers) and Marcel Heberlein, a professional player
in the German basketball league recently joined the And1 Germany brand
endorsers roster in February and March, respectively.
Here are
some more tidbits of what’s to come from AND1 Germany c/o Laurent:
-On who’s got next: “Dj Maleek
(official Tour DJ of the Game), Lazee (top Swedish rapper), Blanchard Obiango
(player for the German national team), Frank Ewert (best Junior basketball
coach in Germany) and a lot more during the next months!”
-On what’s going on for the next few months: “We will bring the best streetball team in Germany to the
Reality Check in Cologne this summer! With dudes from the United States,
Germany and Africa! (including some AND1 all-stars). Additionally we will be launching videos,
photo shoots, mixtapes, plus so much more.“
-On how long the “__X__ is AND1” will run: “Certainly year-long
and if it proves to be successful, it will continue to run in the following
years.“
Poised to push more And1 brand awareness and
looking at the possibility of positioning And1 as a lifestyle brand as well,
the current campaign is focused on these shoe models: Ultralyte, Empire Mid,
and Elev8 Mid (note: the Downtime Low has
also been featured prominently, as well as the And1 snapback cap, only available in the And1 Germany online site - www.and1.de).
Looks like things are going to be more
exciting withAnd1 Germany’s
aggressive marketing thrust, and we at And1 Ph will continue to bring you the
latest news in the international scene.
For your regular local updates, we are also on Twitter
(follow @and1ph) and LIKE us
on Facebook (www.facebook.com/and1ph). And that’s the 411, And Juan!
[Streetball’s
Finest – 1.28.12] – And1 Germany’s “Mr.
Hangtime” wins German BBL All Star Game Dunk Contest in Empire Mids
Inks: FLASH aka g_sk1lls
Images: Salu Benjamin Tadi (Mr. Hangtime – via
Facebook) and Laurent Burkart (And1 Germany Facebook fanpage) and Munich Times
(via TMT Sports)
When I think of Eurobasket, my mind is
immediately filled with images of long-range shooting bigs with excellent passing
ability. With that line of thought, my
knowledge about German basketball is quite limited to Germany’s
Finest, their premiere spot for everything streetball in that part of the
world (shout-outs to Paul Gudde) and Dirk Nowitzki, the
sweet-shooting forward for the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA (NBA Finals MVP
2011). I haven’t really imagined a
slam-dunking player from Deutscheland for that matter..so I consider myself
schooled by Salu Benjamin Tadi (reppin’ And1 Germany as an official endorser
since 2011).
Salu, as he is affectionately called in Germany, is also known as Mr. Hangtime. He recently won the Beku BBL All Star Game Dunk Contest in a pair of And1 Empire Mids (Black/Gold) last January 21, 2012 in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart. Competing in a field of 40 (yep, that’s forty dunkers right there), Mr. Hangtime bested 29 other amateurs and 10 professionals in this annual event (including his foremost rival, Tony Gaffney of Telekom Basket Bonn and a former player of the NBA’s Boston Celtics). Check out the images and videos below:
Standing at
just 6’1” and tipping the scales at a lean 207 lbs, this Munich-based
high-flyer boasts of a 42-inch vert (I’d love to see him and Nate Robinson go
at it in an international dunk off, seriously).
Salu is also no stranger to showcasing his amazing leaping ability,
having already won the Red Bull Slam Dunk contest also in Germany last year.
When asked
about his preparations for the 2012 BBL Dunk Contest, Salu replied via email “I trained 5-6 times a week (2 hours for
fitness/weights) and 3-4 times a week playing basketball in nearby gyms
(spending 2-3 hours with dunk practices.)”
He adds “..at the moment we are
working on some special dunks like 360-degrees between the legs or dunking over
a car.”
Big
thanks to my contact, Laurent Burkart for the news and exclusive
images through the And1 Germany Facebook page.
Laurent works for the Marketing and Sales team of And1 Germany and
manages their social networking sites (And1 Germany in Facebook), as well
as coordinating with team players while handling events, publicity and
promotions. Would also like to thank the
Munich Times and TalkBasket.Net for additional
details that I used for this article.
Video courtesy of BekoBBL, shared by TalkBasket.Net
For
feedback and suggestions, please send us an email at and1pinas@gmail.com. Please also check out and LIKE our Facebook
fanpage (www.facebook.com/and1ph)
and follow us on Twitter (@and1ph). We
Flips show love to our global counterparts (hence the S/O to And1 Germany), but
we also provide the latest updates about the And1 brand in the
Philippines. And that’s the 411, And
Juan!
