Streetball Tour in China

The S.K.Y. Streetball Syndicate (S.K.Y.), one of the world’s top professional streetball teams, today announced at a press conference in Shanghai, China, a multi-year partnership with the China Shemgod Streetball Company and Chinese sports apparel manufacturer Voit.   

The partnership will mark many firsts for an American street basketball team in China, according to Lee Greene, President ofchina S.K.Y., Ltd, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, but with offices in Shanghai, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.A., as the 2010 Voit S.K.Y. Shemgod China Tour will consist of nationwide grass roots events, an arena exhibition tour, as well as an (8) episode reality television show on nationwide sports channel CCTV5.   

Greene added that the entire project is focused on streetball, the S.K.Y. Streetball Syndicate, and the search for China’s first streetball star.   

In addition, there will be a grass roots “open run” events in 5 cities:  Shanghai, Shenyang, Beijing, Zhengzhou, and Wuhan.  12 players will be selected from the nationwide “open run” events to make up the China Streetball All-Stars, who will then compete against S.K.Y. in three exhibition games to be held in arenas in Beijing, Wuhan, and Shanghai in August.  All of this will be documented and produced into an (8) episode reality TV series to be aired nationwide in China this autumn. 

“We are extremely excited to be a central part of this fantastic project,” says Sean Chu, the Managing Partner of Crossover Sports and the Shanghai-based representative of S.K.Y., Limited. “The announcement of this long-term strategic partnership between S.K.Y., Shemgod, and Voit is the culmination of over two years of hard work and patience.  This will be a groundbreaking event in the sports and entertainment industry in China, and it will expose millions of basketball fans here in China to an extremely fun and exciting form of basketball under the banner of S.K.Y.,” said Chu.   

Windy Zhang, President of China Shemgod Streetball Company and a partner with S.K.Y., added: “We are proud to announce our partnership with S.K.Y., the premier streetball team in the world.  Working with the top streetball team and players in the world will ensure that our Chinese events will be a big hit.  We’re looking forward to making this tour a huge success in China with our partners in the S.K.Y. Streetball Syndicate.”

The S.K.Y. Streetball Syndicate is the top professional streetball team and consists of some of the best streetball basketball players in the world. The S.K.Y. team announced for the China-based project will be led by hard-top legends Taurian “Mr. 720” Fontenette (Dallas Tex.); Dennis “Spyda” Chism (Atlanta, Ga.), John “Helicopter” Humphrey (Morehead City, N.C.); Patrick “Da Roc” Robinson (Baltimore, Md.); and Aaron “AO” Owens (Philadelphia, PA). The remaining roster will be made up of S.K.Y. players Anthony “Half Man Half Amazing” Heyward (Brooklyn, NY); James “Big Swoal” Rhodes (Wilmington, NC); and newcomer Guy “Easy J” Dupuy (Paris, France).  Fontenette was the Sprite amateur NBA All-Star Weekend dunk winner at JAMfest in Dallas this past February. 

“We will be working on additional marketing extensions beyond the court and the reality series, including licensing deals with Voit and several others for China,” said Steve Brunner, a managing partner and the Vice President of Development and Marketing for S.K.Y. “We have several other plans globally but our immediate focus has been on China and a major deal like this in the world’s largest market. We have plans for North American stops in 2010 beyond this Tour.”

More information on the S.K.Y. Streetball Syndicate can be found online at www.skynolimit.net