We recently connected with Stanley Fletcher and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Stanley, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I grew up in a church home. Meaning, my mom is a preacher at an apostolic church. When I say I went to church growing up I mean minimum 3 days a week and sometimes 5 days a week with going to church twice a day Sundays and if you know what apostolic churches do then you know how long a service is and you know what a church convention is. During a church convention you go to a city where the convention is held and all the other apostolic churches in the district and sometimes from another state come to congregate and praise God together. This means IM GOING TO CHURCH FOR THE WHOLE WEEKEND! Lord help me… I guess he did. I’m saying this to say, I wasn’t given any time to do anything else in life that I wanted to do for myself. Church consumed my life and childhood so when I got the chance to go on my own I literally took it. I left home at 16, Mom came a got me and took me back home but I left again at 17 and this time I was gone gone. School wasn’t my thing but basketball was my passion so I went to whatever school gave me a home. I needed up using my basketball skill to gain the attention of the creator of a new sport called SlamBall and the entrepreneur mindset that I had + the fact that I never really got to do what I wanted to do for myself and with my own train of thoughts made me fall in love with SlamBall because as an entrepreneur I saw the potential and opportunity to become something original, creative and I can own this one day. I wouldn’t just be some kid with the same hoop dreams as all the other kids. Coming from the inner city everyone has a hoop dreams and all of them are extremely talented. One thing we wasn’t taught is how to manage your way through school to get to a four year D1 collage to show your talent in the right forum. Plus thinking about another year of school without money! Matter of fact, possibly four years of this with a slim chance of making it to the NBA?? SlamBall made sense to me.

I started playing SlamBall when it was called SmashBall. I was a 19yr old kid looking for some financial stability and a place to show my talent. SlamBall gave me that platform so I dedicated my life to it and competed my heart out. What separated me was definitely the way I played the game but how I thought about the game and the future of the sport is what Mason Gordon and Mike Tollin saw in me. “This kid can help us develop the sport in a way we wouldn’t see it” I was creating and developing new parts of the sport as I was playing it. I was working for the sport on the player level and without me even knowing, on the grassroots level. I was teaching these guys how to play the sport from the first day I stepped on the court. I wasn’t just one of the best players in the sport but also one of the best teachers, coaches, trainers, directors or the sport as well. I could t stop thinking about where the sport should go and how the game should look.

SlamBall ended up not taking the Spike TV deal that wanted to make us into the WWF of basketball so SlamBall left the airwaves and my job was gone! Wtf… FOR OVER 5 YEARS!!! Others left but I still couldn’t leave SlamBall alone. I don’t believe that God put me on this path for it to just disappear like this. I feel SlamBall as part of my life’s legacy. I thought about SlamBall every single day of those five years and not only just in my head but writing out ways to train the sport, new moves, new strategies, new coaching philosophy’s and the list goes on and on. Mason (SlamBall Creator) and I would talk for hours about what we WILL do when SlamBall comes back. What I did learn from all the church sermons was FAITH. God got us and sure enough I get the call in 2008 that SlamBall is back! I’m still young enough to compete also so here we go again.

SlamBall does one season with IMG on a few different tv networks and bam! SlamBall is gone again. IMG shelves the project so we’re on standby without a job AGAIN! Wtf… Without me knowing it, this was the start of me doing SlamBall full-time. Ho-ly Spit!

I get a call from Mason saying meet me at this restaurant on Ventura Blvd in studio city. I’m thinking we’re going to talk some SlamBall on the development level for the future or some small road show is coming up. Not this time… Mason says SlamBall is going to China! I say, ok so how long is the season going to be and when. This is awesome. He says no, we’ve bought back our rights to SlamBall and now building the sport internationally with China being the first continent. You will put together a road show team of 3 other guys that will help you kick off the sport by showcasing it at major basketball parks, big festivals and malls. Everything we have been preparing for is about to go DOWN. We used these “road shows” as we called them, not to just showcase the sport but to gain Chinese investment into the now SlamBall China LTD company. China got bread bread! That’s what we should really understand. The malls we did our roadshows at became funding partners of SlamBall China. After a year or so of these roadshows, I was officially hired as the Head Training Director of SlamBall China. I GOT A JOB! And I’m working as an expat in a foreign country. Who knew, right? This thing that I could t stop thinking about now is my employer and I live in Shanghai China. I’m laughing right now even thinking about it.

Knowing what I know now, I do think maybe we should have explored the WWF of basketball idea back in 2002. From what I’ve been though and learning from one of the best sports marketing minds in the world Michael Sun and figuring out how to make ideas come to life especially in a country where I don’t speak the language but needing to get your point across and manage these people and facilities I know that creativity doesn’t come from the idea of something verbatim. The idea of the WWF of basketball might come off as fake and set of basketball games played in a spring loaded court with Olympic caliber trampolines embedded in to the floor. We were thinking that it would be corny.. “SlamBall is a real sport” was our thing and we were proud competitions of this game and sport. We wanted to show the world how tough we were and how amazing this sport is but not thinking about the possibilities of scripting the drama and stories around the players in the sport to build stars so the sport could flourish. People come to live sporting events to see the sport because they love the players. These guys in the NBA are making millions of dollar to play a sport. Once they sign that contract they instantly become inspirational to millions of kids and adults who only wish they could do what they love and make millions of dollars while doing that. SlamBall doesn’t provide that type of financial freedom but storytelling can create a character that kids and adults can connect with. Through storytelling we can give people a character to root for. This way we can fill seats in an arena and then, pay these players/charters more money than they could every think about from playing SlamBall. The game doesn’t need to be scripted but the characters need to be developed and now SlamBall as a company is thinking this way and once we’re able to release the new innovative approach to a live SlamBall even we will finally see the full potential of SlamBall as we have seen it from the start.

Throughout my 7 years living abroad in Shanghai China I’ve not only learned everything about the business of building a new sport but I’ve also learned how to develop and implement systems. Through the support of SlamBall I’ve also learned how to produce sports documentaries through Mandalay Sports Media and my uncle (I call him) Mike Tollin. After running the SlamBall program on Chinese university campuses and writing the book of SlamBall, running SlamBall trampoline centers and youth SlamBall programs and directing a 32 team SlamBall University Tournament simultaneously operating SlamBall student Societies on campus, programming SlamBall collaborative roadshows with Nike, RedBull and various major Chinese brands I get to combine that with my passion and learned skill of tv/film production and storytelling and use this to create one of the best live sporting events in the world.

I have faith in the journey so if speeding up the process still involves the journey that’s cool but I wouldn’t change a thing because it’s all Gods plan. I’m just a vessel God is using to inspire someone else that needs to know that faith is a real thing. I make six figures a a year, have a beautiful home and family because I have faith in SlamBall.

Do what you love and love what you do. If you can’t see it in the future and believe what you vision wholeheartedly, you’re doing the wrong thing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I ended up being one of the key figures in SlamBall and as a direct result of my work in China we landed ourselves with 2 huge SlamBall trampoline parks, 5 SlamBall training facilities all on major Chinese University campuses multiple brand sponsorships and on the Chinese sock market. SlamBall China went public!

I had so many SlamBall facilities and players that I was finally able to bring another American SlamBall player as trainer to help me run and manage these facilities.

I wrote a SlamBall textbook that was used to teach SlamBall as a course taught at Chinese universities as part of their sports major. SlamBall has become a business that embodies everything trampoline. We have become the upgrade to any trampoline park that exists. Once kids enter a trampoline park they immediately go to the basketball courts so they can dunk. SlamBall is the premier DUNK experience.

SlamBall isn’t just a sport, it’s a dunk brand. We’ve build the system to integrate the dunk experience into everyday life. The sport of SlamBall is an amazing display of talent, fearlessness, skill and choreography met with fuck it lets win. But the business of SlamBall is through live events, trampoline parks, birthday parties, team building events, brand endorsements and we still have the goal of SlamBall in the Olympics! We at SlamBall make dreams happen. Everyone wants to dunk like Michael Jordan and Labron James. We have dedicated our lives to making dreams come true and developing how to package this system and experience to roll out to the world.

Literally roll out.. lol
We have designed a smaller half court SlamBall court model that fits in the trailer of a truck we can mass manufacture and bring SlamBall to any event. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I did learn a lot about myself when SlamBall was not around and basketball wasn’t paying the bills. I been like a lot of other basketball players aging but still working in the sport of basketball trying to get the next big overseas contract. I’ve been the ABA (American Basketball Association) player getting noticed and locking in an overseas contract. When your in that mode your happy that your still playing ball but your all over the place chasing something that age is going to decide for you. You become out of touch with reality. The money ain’t good and you’re playing a role like your making a good living from playing basketball.

LIES…..

If I knew then what I knew now, I would have picked up my camera and computer along time ago.

A skill I learned is what it takes to put together a film from the operational side first. I learned what the camera angles, how to coordinate talent and locations, what paperwork needs to be signed, the camera angles and positions, how to piece together the film and what parts are needed to make this not just work but a great film. From there the only thing left for me to do was pick up my own cameras, learn how to shoot meaning learning the dials on the camera and how to get the most out the camera as possible. How to light a room to create mood and emotion and then I taught myself how to edit film.

Through the loss of SlamBall I gained the skill of production. What I would tell any kid is to not have tunnel vision. Go for your goals but understand the elements around what you’re doing also. Become some of the parts that are missing to complete your goal.

In my case, editing cost a ton of money to expense when hiring an editor. I learned how to edit. Videography becomes a hell of an expense when hiring someone. I can now do that myself. No matter what happens I can reach my goal of making film, content creation or making documentaries. What I know now to be key elements of my job in SlamBall. Sports, entertainment, tv & film all go hand in hand so if I would have though of it that way when I was 19 I would have that much more relevant experience in the skills around sports marketing that can propel my career.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Leaning how to edit and film helped in my leadership role in China as I was able to manage and direct the media department as well as the training and operations department of the company.

I learned so much that I ended up getting my own Chinese company because I wanted to keep creating and building systems. My Chinese company taught basketball and I landed multiple elementary and middle school programs as director of basketball for these schools in top of personalized training and running my own youth team/program. Before I knew it I was all over Shanghai for youth basketball.

My passion for creating became stronger and stronger but unfortunately COVID had its own place in my journey that put a stop to my company. At the time I didn’t think of it as a positive but it was my shift in life where God wanted me to utilize my skill in a different way.

My side thing immediately came to the forefront. I left China to work with Mandalay Sports Media and was on the team that made Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance, Kareem, Redeem Team, STAND (Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf story) and worked my way up to Associate Producer of the film ICEMAN: A GEORGE GERVIN STORY now on NBA NETWORK/APP

My side hustle ended up fulfilling my childhood dream of making it to the NBA! I made it one way or the other. Lmmfao…

Contact Info:

• Website: https://slamballleague.com/
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