Sometimes, the hardest act to follow is yourself.

But even after the tremendous amount of effort, energy and basketball love being spread around Manila on Day 1 of his Asia tour, Kobe did more than just show up.

In fact, the buzz began long before he even arrived, as major newspapers began covering the event in mid-July. Local radio joined in with the official announcement and ticket distribution. Youth hot spots were covered in Kobe posters - including 105 community centers throughout Singapore. And flyers made their way to all of the area high schools.

When the announcement was made for the sale of event tickets at Wisma Atria on July 16, over 1,300 people waited for more than four hours to claim their seats. And in about the time it takes Kobe to race the length of the court for a highlight reel dunk, the event was completely sold-out.

On the 19th, Singapore’s top basketball players entered a tryout for a training session with Kobe. Eight lucky players were selected to team up with the Asian Youth Squad for a truly unique opportunity: on-court lessons from the 2009 NBA Finals MVP.

And when his plane finally touched down, The Straits Times, The New Paper, Zhao Pao and Channel News Asia were delighted: to open tour stop No. 2, Kobe strode triumphantly down the tarmac waving a Singapore flag.

Second-stop highlights:

⋆ Press Conference, Media: 120 members of the press, a 7-page feature in The New Paper and the sports section cover of The Straits Times.
⋆ Young Athletes Session: Kobe spoke with 50 of Singapore’s top youth athletes about hard work, motivation and how to be the best in the game.
⋆ Retail: over 1,200 people watched Kobe make his way from Orchard Road to Nike Singapore, where nine kids from the Make-a-Wish Foundation saw theirs comes true in the form of high-fives and handshakes from their idol. Plus autographed Kobe tees.
⋆ Stadium Event: more than 8,500 people crammed into Singapore Indoor to watch Kobe ball and train the Singapore Top 50 before he recreated the barefoot sneaker autograph session theme from Manila.

Next stop: Taipei.

Make sure to check out Facebook.com/NikeBasketball and Twitter.com/NikeBasketball to keep up with the tour in real time!

Read Kobe in Asia: Manila

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