Here in the Philippines, basketball
has taken over the country.
Hoops are put up anywhere there's room.
They've been playing here for over 100 years.
And they may not have the best courts,
but they definitely have the passion.
I'm here to see how Filipinos are performing their best,
regardless where they can play.
Philippines is basketball.
OLYMPIC OUTPOSTS
PHILIPPINES
MANILA
This is Grayson Boucher, better known as "The Professor,"
and I've been playing the game globally for over 15 years.
Right now, we're live in Manila.
I'm going to get in the mix and go chop it up
with some of the local legends to find out why
this sport is thriving here.
I'm in Parañaque, and we're about to get up with Hype
Streetball, who's running a training session for anybody
who wants to improve their basketball skills.
Let's check it out.
-Hey, man. -What's up, man?
What's up, Grayson?
Hey, pleasure to meet you, bro.
Welcome to our place, man.
-So you're Little Flash? -Yeah.
So explain Hype Streetball.
How did it start?
It started in 2011.
It actually started as a basketball community, where
I got our street ballers, specifically
kids here in the Philippines.
We do three-on-three streetball, one-on-one,
and stuff like that.
In and out.
Bring the legs behind the back.
Eyes up.
How important would you say basketball
is to the Philippines?
For here, basketball is a lifestyle.
Like when you go around the court, go around the streets,
you can see a lot of basketball courts around the street.
If there's no basketball, there's
going to be lots of vices and stuff like that.
So basketball saves people's life.
So that's how important it is here.
Yeah, I think it's really cool that the community is so
into streetball.
Like, I didn't see any kids here that were, like, forced
to be here by their parents.
In the United States, there will be at least a good portion
of kids there that probably aren't even listening.
But here, you can tell Hype Streetball's got,
like, a basketball enthusiast community behind it.
We're going to start off with freestyle exhibition.
You're not going to be good if you're going to be shy.
OK, let's go.
-Whoa! -Oh!
That was smooth right there.
That was hot.
Hey!
-Not bad! -Wow!
-Whoa! -Yeah!
Hey, it was cool to see Hype teach the kids.
But after all, they are called Hype Streetball,
so let's see what they do in the street,
in their own environment.
-What's up, brother? -What's up? What's up?
-How you doing, man? -I'm good.
-What's your name? -Jake.
This place is crazy.
Where we at right now?
We are in Bagong Pag-Asa.
-And you're from here? -Yes.
-Born and raised? -I born here, yes.
So what does basketball mean for you,
being in this environment right by this court?
The basketball-- my life's complete. Yes.
All right, man. Let's see what you got.
Hey, guys, give it up for Professor!
They did great.
Honestly, that kind of energy is my favorite.
They got the moves.
A lot of players that play fundamental,
they just need to take it to the next level.
I've played in 40 countries around the world,
and there's not many places you get this kind of energy.
HYPE STREETBALL
All right. So we just got done hooping.
I'm tired. I'm hungry.
We got to try some of this street food.
So, what's going on here? What should I eat?
This is what we call Halo-halo It's
a special food in Philippines where you
mix a lot of different things.
These look scary. I'm not going to lie.
This is scary, and that's scary.
So what do I do here?
Crushing it down and then stirring it?
-Do it hard. -Do it hard?
Yeah.
Yeah!
Pretty good, actually. That's not bad.
Yeah!
All right. Thank you, guys.
Awesome.
This morning, we're here at the tenement housing projects
here in Taguig.
At a certain point, the residents here
were actually facing eviction.
But because of the community surrounded around basketball,
it was actually saved.
Let's check it out.
So there's the LeBron James court that everybody
talks about right here.
Yes. Welcome to the world-famous court.
Man, what's your name?
-My name is Chris. -Chris.
So tell me about this teacher.
I see it says, save tenement.
Since 2010, we are evicted.
They want to demolish this building.
You go to the internet.
We'll do Save the Tenement fund.
They say LeBron donate here, so that since then, we
are here, because of LeBron.
This is the handprint of LeBron.
Wow.
So how did the residents react when LeBron James came here?
They so very happy when LeBron came here.
They're so very crowded here.
Every floor, people outside their house.
Very cool.
So how many residents live here total?
1,500 families.
Wow.
We have 796 rooms here.
So how many of the residents actually play ball in leagues
or play pick-up games?
More than 1,000 also.
Seems like you guys just live basketball.
Like, basketball here, basketball on the left.
This really is ingrained in this culture.
It just goes hand in hand with life.
That is our culture here.
Every day.
To me, it's pretty amazing just looking at the two basketball
courts that are, like, really the focal point
in this community and just how everyone's
so involved with basketball.
I mean, in the US, basketball could
be a big part of somebody's life or something,
but never is it such a focal point
of a community where everything thrives around it.
I've never seen anything like that before.
All right.
I had a blast checking out the world-famous Tenement Court,
but now we got to hit the court to actually play and get
some three on three in.
Ready, fellas?
Let's go.
Oh!
Energy is incredible.
To be surrounded by an audience when
you're playing a streetball game and there's
high anticipation of action happening, you can't beat it.
Coming to the Philippines was an eye-opening experience.
You can definitely see that they
live and breathe basketball.
I got a chance to meet with Hype Streetball
and check out one of their training sessions.
It was very cool to see they're giving opportunity
to other people in the community,
starting at a very young age.
Everywhere I went out here, I received a warm welcome.
Philippines is basketball.
They follow everything.
I'm talking NBA, streetball, PBA.
You name it, they probably know about it.
From the streets to the tenement projects,
it's clear that basketball is a way of life
and it's in their blood.
I had a great time, and I can't wait to come back again.