As for our SLAM Fam, we’ve got a whole collection just for and yours. Whether you’re tuned in to the NBA, the W, college hoops or you’re an OG collector of the magazine, here’s the ultimate SLAM Gift Guide.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, SLAM Night at Barclays, hundreds of magazines and cover stars. We really out here. Thanks for rocking with us for the past 30 years.

AP Freshman of the Week is just the beginning. From Cooper Flagg and the Blue Devils to BBN and more, rep your fav college squad.

SHOP

Whoever said the L is getting boring is actually the boring one. From the C’s to the Kings, this collection is for true hoopers.

SHOP

Juju is dropping 40, the Gamecocks are beating teams by that amount and before we know it, the WNBA will be back. We’re readyyyy.

SHOP

The post The ULTIMATE SLAM Gift Guide appeared first on SLAM.

However you want to perceive it, 2,006 days is a long time to do anything consistently. Some might even call it impossible, but not Kenji Summers. On December 25, 2017, Summers was challenged by a friend to meditate every day for a year; pretty soon, one year turned into two, two turned into three, and now Summers is completing his sixth year of the challenge. But Summers has always been up for a challenge—his most recent being a part of the SLAM Zen Collection, which is inspired by mindfulness and finding inner peace both on and off the court.

“I identify mindfulness as coming back to yourself and meditation as going into yourself,” Summers recently told SLAM.

Summers has been mentored by the legendary George Mumford, who has worked with everyone from the late-Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan on the practice of mediation. The Brooklyn-native and UMass Amherst alumni is also a former hooper, worked as a brand manager for Nike Basketball East and founded Passport Life, a non-profit organization committed to empowering youth to travel the world.

In SLAM’s Zen Collection campaign, Summers narrates the promotional video and talks about the essence of piece and how, as a player, it’s important to be fully present.

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We talked to Summers about his take on meditation, his personal journey and how every athlete can unlock their higher selves through this practice.

SLAM: How would you define meditation and mindfulness?

KENJI SUMMERS: Peace. I identify mindfulness as coming back to yourself and meditation as going into yourself. 

SLAM: Why do you meditate?

KS: I meditate to get to know myself better. When I started 2,006 days ago I was just trying to escape anxiety. My thoughts were moving non-stop and life felt overwhelming. I had lost my job and needed something to take the edge off that would not lead to other side effects. When I started my first meditation lasted for three minutes.

SLAM: You’ve spoken about learning from George Mumford, and how his work helped you on your path to mindfulness? Do you see mindfulness as an individual journey or one guided by mentorship?

KS: George Mumford is the GOAT you never heard of. He was the mindfulness coach to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. In 2015 he put out a book “The Mindful Athlete” and I read it front to back while working on ideas to celebrate Kobe’s last season in the League. George’s teaching has helped me see the masterpiece within and elevate my game to a level of pure performance. Today I don’t try to be anyone but myself. Mindfulness is an inner game and if you want to play the infinite game—which never ends and is all about continuing the play—then having a mentor is very important. We all have those favorite teachers or OG’s from our life, and for me, George is one of them. I would still be me without him but I am a better version of myself because of him. If you ever meet him you will know what I’m talking about. Straight Black Jedi, Yoda flow.

SLAM: What is the infinite game and who is the infinite player? 

KS: The infinite game is the boundless arena of life and the infinite player is the one who thrives, transcending limits and embracing the unpredictable play, ever-evolving and adapting. Live the infinite game, be the infinite player, and play as an infinite athlete.

SLAM: How is an individual’s mindfulness impacted by being on a team?

KS: Basketball is a team game. You have to know yourself and know your teammates. Mindfulness which I like to call Sturdiness is all about getting right with yourself so you can get in flow with your homies. Your teammates. Your coaches. I say your homies because mindfulness is not about hierarchies but recognizing roles and contributions. Meditation, which I like to call structure is about practicing on a deeper level. George would have MJ and Pippen and Kobe and Shaq meditate with their teams before games. No wonder such big personalities were able to get along and win chips during their time. My style is similar and while I focus one-on-one, my group sessions are about encouraging everyone to be their own masterpiece so that they can create a masterpiece with other masterpieces. Feel me?

SLAM: How did you incorporate mindfulness and meditation into your life when you were hooping in high school and considering furthering your career in basketball? 

KS: I didn’t. It took me ’till I had gotten to be dream job at Nike to start practicing. But when I look back I had glimpses of mindfulness and meditation when I was practicing Tae Kwon Do at the Vanderbilt YMCA while simultaneously playing in Junior Knicks. Hoops needs these practices more than ever. With superstars getting suspensions for mental lapses and poor decision making it is important to get to the root of the issue. It’s about stress. We do not want to admit that we have a stress epidemic. This stress epidemic connects to our attention epidemic. In “Stolen Focus” author Johann Hari emphasizes “In situations of low stress and safety, mind-wandering will be a gift, a pleasure, a creative force. In situations of high stress or danger, mind-wandering will be a torment.” We have to admit that we don’t feel safe in this world. Especially young hoopers. There is a level of psychological violence inflicted on them from the time they start showing promise and the cameras go on them. Instead of making them out to be villains or victims, we have to be OG’s and elders. That means we have to be sturdy and structured. What I am doing is putting these practices into easily learnable and digestible tools. It’s about physical fitness and skills along with mental fitness and mental skills. We need them all. 

SLAM: How can athletes integrate mindfulness into their everyday lives?

KS: Start with whatever is buggin’ you right now. Breathe in and hold your breath until your desire to breathe is more important than the issue at hand. On the breath out feel the gratitude that at this moment breathing was all that is important. From moment to moment having gratitude for the ability to breathe will provide more peace and joy in everyday life. I call this Free Peace.

SLAM: Is there a difference between the type of mindfulness an athlete may practice on the court versus at home?

KS: Nah, the court is life and the life is the court. But starting out knowing that these practices can help you play better is a real motivation. The GOATS all have had mental practices: LeBron, MJ, Kobe, Dr J you name ‘em. Make your practice your life and see what miracles happen. 

SLAM: Do you have any advice for hoopers beginning their mindfulness journey?

KS: Come see me this summer in NYC. NYC hoops is in a renaissance and I am part of the scenius –the genius of a group of people and their culture. 

SLAM: Could you speak on the inspiration behind the SLAM Zen Collection?

KS:  I had read “Unlocked” by George Mumford and “Finite and Infinite Games” by James Carse. In sitting with these books and speaking to my friend Jesse Stollak I realized how powerful our stories are to tell. Jesse does a lot of storytelling in his role but we both connect on knowing that what we do ultimately is about service. Me repping Zen every day through Captain Zen Garden caps and living my Free Peace lifestyle was a natural fit to tell a story around meditation and hoops. I realized that I had recently unlocked my infinite athlete. It felt wavy to realize that there is no one better to be but myself (everyone else is taken) and I came to believe that I had to share my masterpiece with the world.

The SLAM Zen Collection is all about finding serenity in style.

The post Kenji Summers on the Art of Mediation and Being Mentored by the Same Teacher Who Worked with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant appeared first on SLAM.

The SLAM x SUPLMNT Water Bottle Collection is available now.

And yet, the very act of consuming it, or even having access to an insulated water bottle, isn’t the norm everywhere. In some parts of the world, water is a commodity. It’s that sentiment, specifically within communities of color, that Jairus Morris set out to change when he founded the brand SUPLMNT. Growing up in South Philly, and eventually Jersey for high school, he admits that drinking water wasn’t even reinforced in his own household, and as he’s grown older, he’s had to watch those around him get sick and deal with different health issues. That’s when it hit him. 

“I was like, Man I’m not trying to grow up and live like that,” he says over Zoom. “It’s like a term that you always hear, like, Oh, this runs in my family. And I realized that I mean, it’s, it’s really not true. It’s really the bad habits that we get passed down. Where we’re putting a bunch of sugar in your juice and drinking Kool Aid and never drinking water, or over salting your food and only eating fried stuff. Those different things are what get passed down. So from there, I really wanted to make a change.” 

Flash forward to 2018 when Morris decided he wanted to start his own business that was “vision-focused and could impact the culture.” That’s when he stumbled upon the highly-profitable market of selling insulated water bottles—except, there was one problem: he wasn’t seeing anyone at the time marketing towards a demographic that looked like him. “[People of color] are not marketed to because we’re not really seen as the people that do outdoorsy things. Water bottles were kind of created for being outdoors, being in the mountains. You need your stuff to stay cold or hot for a certain amount of time…. But in a way, we do go outside, we don’t [just] sit in the house. We commute, we go outside, play basketball, go to festivals, cookouts and different things.” 

That’s where SUPLMNT steps in. With a  mission to change the game in urban communities when it comes to hydration, the brand has created a product that’s more than just a water bottle. Inspired by Morris’ upbringing and love of sneaker culture, every aspect of a SUPLMNT water bottle reflects the brand’s ethos, Where Hydration Meets Culture. The rubber foot grip at the bottom of the bottle mimics the sole of a sneaker, while the loop is made from a shoestring. Then there’s the texture of the bottle—gritty and resilient, just like the community Morris grew up in—and the SUPLMNT logo, which symbolizes how hydration can not only bring the block together, but communities everywhere. 

SUPLMNT’s recent collaboration with SLAM is a merging of the elements—from basketball and sneaker culture to hydration, all while keeping that same mission at the top of mind. The SLAM x SUPLMNT water bottle is available now and comes in three different colorways, including an all-over print bottle with the SLAM logo, an all-black bottle with a vertical SLAM logo, and a laser-etched RESPECT THE GAME lockup. The 24 oz insulated bottles not only keeps drinks cold for 24 hours, and hot for 12 hours, but is meant to keep you looking even cooler with its sleek design and insulated functionality. Just like a pair of kicks, the SLAM x SUPLMNT collection can be rocked anywhere, and everywhere. 

“I feel as though we have the same audience,” Morris says of the collab with SLAM. “A lot of NBA players and basketball players kind of resonate with that same exact story that I [mentioned] earlier, with growing up in the same kind of environment [and] not having those resources or people telling them about health and wellness or even drinking water… SLAM is basketball and sneaker culture, and it just made sense [to collab]. It’s like the dots connecting. Us creating together and coming up with the design, everything just worked.” 

Looking ahead at the future, Morris envisions the brand evolving into the definitive water bottle for the culture. That includes raising awareness and spreading their message—Morris even mentions wanting to create a fund to give back, while also building hydration stations and hosting giveaways within urban communities.

Just as the game has the ability to unite, SUPLMNT is doing so, too, with health and hydration at the forefront. Now, that’s a mission for the culture. Respect. 

Shop the SLAM x SUPLMNT Water Bottle Collection here. 

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