HoopRave 2025 Proves iUNGO World's Global Vision
- Brainz Magazine
- Jun 13
- 4 min read
Jerry Johnson is a Graduate of Rider University & a former professional basketball player in Europe (2005-2018) & Hall of Famer. He is currently Director of Athletics at La Academia Charter School & CEO/Founder of iUNGO World platform.
Being back in Ghana for the sixth time, yes, six times in just a few years, felt different. This visit wasn't just another trip. It was five years of vision finally taking shape into something real. When I first conceived iUNGO World, many questioned whether a sports-focused social platform outside of the big social media groups could truly connect athletes, fans, and federations across continents. Even I questioned it during some rough times. The HoopRave 2025 event answered enough questions to know we're going in the right direction.
Let me take you back to last month, which was the culmination of years of effort. The Ghana Basketball Federation partnered with us to host their 3x3 basketball championship, featuring 42 high schools, both boys and girls divisions, in a three-day showcase that became way more than just a tournament. Walking into the venue and seeing thousands of kids, community members dancing, entertainment flowing, and basketball, the game I gave everything to, bringing everyone together was... man, it was surreal. It took us five years to get to this place. Five years.
We didn't even deploy our full marketing strategy. We kind of rode the wave of what the Ghana Basketball Federation was already doing, staying somewhat behind the scenes. But seeing people wearing iUNGO World t-shirts, the branding everywhere, players and coaches representing our platform, it put everything into perspective. The blueprint is becoming a movement.
And streaming numbers completely blew us away. We didn't even go 100 percent on the marketing side. In fact, we barely pushed it, and still had what, almost a thousand people consistently watching the streams? It was wild seeing the comments flooding in from all over: Barbados, Kazakhstan, the US, Russia, Nigeria, folks from Togo, and of course, all over Ghana. All these people experiencing the same moment. That's kind of the whole point of what we built. This platform connects all these different dots, these relationships, all in one place.
What I really come away with, as I review the experience, is that I felt the seeds of that energy I remember as a player in Turkey and Kazakhstan in Ghana. Being on those courts internationally, playing alongside guys from everywhere, showed me how hoop can bring people together who don't even speak the same language. For years, I saw this problem, right? These amazing players in different corners of the world just not getting seen, not getting the spotlight they deserve. But I know, now with proof and not just belief, that iUNGO is starting to help that gap, that space no one is fully addressing.
Seeing Mfantsipim and St. Johns Grammar win those championships, that's huge for them, obviously. But now it's like people outside Ghana actually saw it happen. They're streaming it, talking about it. That's the difference I believe we're making.
We're trying to build actual courts where they need them, get equipment to teams that don't have much. We want to build up infrastructure so that the talent has somewhere to actually go. When iUNGO World does better, we can pump more resources back to our partners, back to those communities filled with kids out there with big dreams but no platform.
This event proved our concept works. I think the capacity and potential of who we can be over the next year, with these new connections and involvement by new players, is the real story. We're already working on our next international event in September. It is going to be even bigger, and we've got conversations happening with federations and leagues around the world.
I gotta acknowledge my team, both in the US and Ghana. It's taken a lot to get to this place. Our production crew, videographers, and everyone who helped put us in this position deserves credit. I need to particularly shout out Ato Van Ess, the president of the Ghana Basketball Federation, and the entire community in Ghana for embracing what we're trying to build.
We're entering a space dominated by giants like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. But none of them specifically serve the global sports community the way we're doing it.
Perhaps that's what makes us unique. We're actually going to these countries, meeting with people, building relationships, and then helping them create funding streams and additional value that wasn't there before.
The economic opportunity is massive too. Creating jobs, providing platforms for underrepresented athletes, connecting fans to sports they never knew existed, all within an ecosystem designed specifically for sports. I think we're in a league of our own.
Is there still work to do? Of course, and frankly, a lot more. This event showed us the successes I'm going on about, but also the shortcomings we've got to shore up. We need more resources to scale and technological expertise. We need to refine some features. The platform is going to evolve, probably in ways we can't even predict right now. But in the here and now, looking at the downloads and engagement during HoopRave gives me all the juice I need.
Sports brings people together. That's never been in question. What iUNGO World is proving is that we can harness that unifying power and amplify it through technology, through community, through purpose. And I'll keep pushing, as founder and CEO, to make sure we're doing it the right way.
The world is here now. And iUNGO World is ready to show it.
Read more from Jerry Johnson
Jerry Johnson, Global Sports Business Enthusiast
Jerry Johnson is a true leader who is immersed in presenting sports opportunities and global sports business. Understanding the power of sports and opportunities is a life changer when used strategically. Johnson has since come back to his hometown to create sports opportunities for high schoolers at La Academia who have never had sports programming in the 20 years of school existence until . He is CEO/Founder of iUNGO World “The Evolution of Sports Social Media” platform.
