Ride the Bench or Fly With Rimpage.

Rimpage gives players a new way to reach their dreams.

Basketball, the organized team version, has become infected with an idea. Whoever invented it probably had good intentions. And for a time the idea probably produced good results. Today, however, this idea has become rotten, a means by which power is abused and careers are ruined. 

Because (even the best) players have no alternative, they are conditioned, not only to surrender power and accept mistreatment, but also to clamor, hope and beg for it. 

Everyone who has ever played on a basketball team has been introduced to this idea. In fact you won't find it anywhere else in basketball. And I can't think of a single player who likes it. 

It's a simple idea with an even simpler name. In basketball we call it “the bench.” The bench is where the players sit during a basketball game. 

They practice all week to play. They get dressed up to play. They warm up before the game, shooting 3-pointers, polishing their moves and dazzling onlookers with acrobatic dunks and layups.

Then, when the game starts, most of them sit down on the bench. There they watch, they wait, and they hope they get picked to get in the game. 

Of course they want to get in the game. Many of them desperately want to play, but team basketball is not set up that way. Players don't do what they want. They do as they're told - or else! In fact the bench is commonly used to punish players who don't do as they're told. 

Basketball players accept that they have no power. The person who does the picking has the power. He alone decides who gets to play. He decides how long they play. And he decides HOW they play. If they mess up he stops the game and gathers his players into a huddle to tell them what to do. 

Even though he’ll only be giving orders to the five players who are going back into the game, he expects all the players on the bench to leave the bench and join his huddle, listen to him then return to the bench. 

While on the bench, as their careers are languishing, players are expected to have a “good attitude.” Even though they're not allowed to do the one thing that would give their dreams a chance, they are expected to be engaged. When the other players score, the players on the bench are expected to cheer and show excitement, then sit back down on the bench. 

It feels like death on that bench. Still players are expected to behave as if they like it. Otherwise they are accused is being selfish. For the most part they do as they're told. After all, their futures are at stake.

The basketball players who catch on know one thing, if they know nothing else. Pleasing the coach and playing well gives them the greatest chance of reaching the next level. They also know if they displease the coach, they'll most likely be “riding the bench.” 

There are several ways coaches can destroy a player's career. Limiting his playing time by sitting him on the bench is a big one. In this way he can make sure you don't get noticed. It's a simple equation: No playing time + No one will see you = It's over. 

It's the same power grab we've seen before that intimidates people, making them quiet, scared and obedient. Here it is applied masterfully to subdue basketball players. "Shut up and do what I say or I will sit you on the bench." No one says it. Still everyone hears it. 

Not every coach is like this, but too often the major obstacles that await children who dream of one day playing professional basketball are 1. that bench 2. a coach with a over-sized ego. 

Obscurity is the only alternative? Opt out of organized basketball and find the next run in a rec center. Nothing you will do there matters. Whether you have the best game of your life or the worst, it counts for nothing. The result is the same: your dream goes nowhere. There too, players watch their basketball dreams die a slow painful death. 

This is how the story goes for over 99% of players for nearly 100 years. This is the condition Rimpage World Basketball Axis has come to change.

Today basketball enters a shining new era. We are today living in the dawn of the biggest revolution in the history of sports, and it's called Rimpage. 

First: what it is

Rimpage is the first World Basketball Axis, a 1v1 super-league. Its mission is to find the one best basketball player in the world and to discover the next big stars in basketball one city, region, and country at a time. 

Second: How it addresses the problem

For starters, Rimpage does not have benches or coaches or anyone else who makes decisions for players. Rimpage players are 100% empowered to go as far as their talent can take them. In Rimpage, players get 100% playing time. There's never a moment when they are not in the game. 

Rimpage players decide who, when, where and how they play. They can even decide not to play. But the more, and the better they play the more rewards they enjoy. It's that simple. 

Rimpage athletes have the opportunity to prove they are the best player in their city, region, and country. National champions represent their countries in the Lion's Tournament, which will determine who is the best basketball player in the world. There is no higher achievement anywhere in basketball. 

What this means

The rise of Rimpage means an end to the crushing of basketball dreams, as Rimpage brings that dream within reach of every player on earth. It means the world will know who is the best player in every city, region and country and those players will finally get the recognition that they deserve. It means freedom and the world is about to witness an explosion of basketball talent such as had never before been seen. My only regret is that I could not bring this opportunity to the millions of players who have long since given up their dream sitting on the bench.