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Ninjas on the Court: The Fantastic Freestyle Basketball Performance of Ninja Skill Ballerz

Freestyle basketball performance group Ninja Skill Ballerz created a sensation in 2008 with their first video "Ninja x Basketball?" demonstrating the high skill level of its team members, who, between the five of them, have won over 15 Japanese championship titles. The video contributed to their name recognition both at home and abroad.

Combining basketball freestyling, contemporary pop culture and traditional Japanese culture with a main "ninja" motif, Ninja Skill Ballerz aim to spread the fascination of freestyle basketball all over the world.

New Video

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Since it was released on January 28th, 2020, their latest eponymous video "Ninja Skill Ballerz" already has nearly 2.4 million views on Facebook at time of writing, and has been shared over 17,000 times. The video features "FLOW NINJA" ZiNEZ、"SPIN NINJA" ISSEI and "MULTI-BALL NINJA" TaMa demonstrating their respective skills to the accompaniment of taiko and shamisen:

Members

ZiNEZ　/　FLOW NINJA

ZiNEZ (born 1990) is a half Japanese half Canadian freestyle basketball performer. He was the youngest person to win Japan's Freestyle Basketball Championship in 2008, a winning streak which he maintained in 2009, after which he went on to win various tournament titles. In 2009, he won at an international tournament in Arizona where he became the first Japanese world champion. In 2018, he achieved the second consecutive victory in Japan in the freestyle category at bac to pec 2018 FINAL, establishing himself as a leader in the freestyle basketball scene.

whitea　/　DRIBBLE NINJA

whitea (Born 1986) is an official performer for the LEVANGA HOKKAIDO, a Japanese professional basketball team who compete in the B.LEAGUE. In one of Japan’s largest freestyle basketball competitions, “Bac to pec”, he accomplished a four year winning streak in the dribbling division who no one has ever accomplished. In 2016, he won third place at “KHOT”, an international freestyle basketball competition. His win at the 2018 tournament earned him an unprecedented five consecutive victories in the dribbling section.

BUG!?　/　BIG-MOVE NINJA

BUG!?, famous for his crazy power moves, is an expert in his break dance-like freestyle basketball tricks. While winning first place three times at the “Freestyle Basketball Battle” in Japan, he also traveled to Europe, America, and other countries in Asia for his performance tours. Chosen as a member of the official promotion team for the Basketball World Championship, he performed at the halftime show at an international basketball game. In 2018, he appeared as a guest at Momoiro Clover Z's one-man live "Momo Cromania" and performed in front of 65,000 people.

ISSEI　/　SPIN NINJA

From Osaka Japan, ISSEI is an expert in spinning basketballs on his fingertips. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, he won three consecutive victories in the spin category, where top players from all over the world participate in bac to pec, one of the largest competitions in Japan. He participated in the largest FSBP in China in 2018 as an invited player and won the championship.

TaMa / MULTI-BALL NINJA

From Chiba, Japan, TaMa specializes in his style of handling multiple basketballs. In 2010, he won championship in the “Freestyle Basketball Battle”, where all the different styles clash without divisions. He has won twice in the multi-ball division of other tournaments as well. Aside from his brilliant titles, he is a contracted performer for a professional basketball team in Japan and continues to entertain the crowds.

Ninja Skill Ballerz Links

By - Ben K.

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