About Project Teamwork

Teamwork

There may be no concept in sports that is easier to understand, yet harder to implement and - above all else - more central to victory.

ESPN and Samsung Mobile present "Project Teamwork", a global exploration into several dynamic sports - and the minds of the athletes who play them.

The objective?

Find out how some of the world's best athletes master teamwork - and how it contributes to their success.

During the summer of 2011, ESPN cameras travelled to four continents to look at teamwork - from beach volleyball in the Netherlands to the "Lightning Bolt" in Jamaica, from scaling ancient ruins in Morocco to one of the world's fastest team sports in Spain. And of course a look at ‘the beautiful game’ on the streets of Brazil.

Camaraderie
Innovation
Greatness

Project Teamwork

A global exploration that brings sport to life - and life to sport.

Begin the journey now.

Beach Volleyball: The Netherlands

Location

The Dutch people are passionate about sports. Close to one-quarter of the nation's 16 million people are registered to play at one of the 35,000 plus sports clubs in the country.

They love to play football (soccer) volleyball, basketball and field hockey.

Located on the North Sea, The Hague is a cosmopolitan city bursting with culture and a dynamic nightlife. It is the seat of the Dutch government and home to both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. It is the 3rd largest city in the Netherlands, with a population of half a million people. The sandy beaches of The Hague attract tourists from around the world and are just a short one-hour drive from the Dutch capital of Amsterdam.

The Netherlands' success spans many sports. The country has won 332 Olympic medals and has been a dominant presence in speed skating, cycling and swimming. The women's water polo and field hockey teams won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

On the international football stage, the Netherlands made the finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup before losing to Spain 1-0. The most successful baseball team in Europe, the Dutch twice upset a roster of major league players from the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Famous athletes from the Netherlands include former Indiana Pacer star Rik Smits, swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband, a seven-time Olympic medalist, and Fanny Blankers-Koen who won four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in track and field.

Players

Sanne Keizer and Marleen van Iersel make up one of the top beach volleyball teams in the world. They are ranked 6th in the FIVB world rankings and 2nd in the CEV European rankings.

In just their third season as teammates, Keizer and Van Iersel are the back-to-back Dutch champions. They placed 5th at the 2009 FIVB World Championships and 4th at the 2010 CEV European Championships. This season they have already taken home gold in the China Shanghai Open and the Poland Open.

Keizer and Van Iersel have their sights set on representing the Netherlands at the 2012 Olympics in London.

Sanne Keizer
Age: 26
Resides: The Hague, Netherlands

Keizer began playing volleyball at age eleven after four years of competitive swimming, water polo and practicing jiu-jitsu. She advanced quickly through the juniors, winning the 2002 FIVB Under-18 World Championship with partner Arjanne Stevens. She has been a professional player since 2003 and holds two additional Dutch championships prior to teaming with Van Iersel. Keizer holds a bachelor's degree in business economics from the Hogeschool Rotterdam.

Marleen van Iersel
Age: 23
Resides: The Hague, Netherlands

Van Iersel took up indoor volleyball at the age of seven and at age 15 was selected for the Dutch Beach Volleyball school (NBS). She quickly progressed through the ranks to the senior women’s team.

Host - Angela Sun

Angela Sun has been playing sports her whole life. Growing up in northern California, she was on the high school volleyball, basketball and softball teams. Looking for further adventure, she taught herself to surf as well as skateboard and snowboard.

Sun has served as a reporter for ESPN’s X Games as well as Winter X Games.

An accomplished actress and reporter, she has travelled to over 35 countries and covered sports as diverse as volleyball, tennis and baseball. She also appeared in the 2008 film Street Kings alongside Forest Whitaker.

A true Silicon Valley girl, she is a self-professed tech geek, with enough gadgets to start a store. While reporting in The Hague, Netherlands, Sun used the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to document the training of beach volleyball players Sanne Keizer and Marleen van Iersel.

Parkour: Morocco

Parkour is fundamentally a philosophy, a way of looking at any environment and finding a unique solution to obstacles in the way. Taken from a French Special Forces training technique using obstacle courses, it was created by David Belle and Sebastian Foucan who added martial arts and street tumbling to create the modern day Parkour.

Practitioners of Parkour are often called freerunners. Originally an underground movement in the 1990’s, the art of Parkour continued to evolve through more creative tricks and stunts while using objects in the urban environment. Each movement and progression is scrutinized and evaluated according to its efficiency or creativity. With the arrival of YouTube in 20005, freerunners began posting videos of their moves for the world to see, which spread the movement globally.

In 2007, the World Freerunning and Parkour Federation formed, with the goal of bringing the sport to the mainstream. What had been simply about exhibiting and exchanging moves now includes competitions where participants are judged according to four criteria: flow - or the ability to connect moves in a fluid way, creativity, difficulty of moves, and execution of a clean landing.

The Kingdom of Morocco is a diverse country with a rich history and culture. It is known for its beautiful markets, rugs, leathers, and spices and is home to 32 million people. Located in northern Africa, the Sahara Desert covers the southern part of the country, but a large portion is mountainous and actually sports several ski slopes.

The country fields national teams in football (soccer), team handball, basketball and cricket, and last year was admitted to the International Ice Hockey Federation. In 2015, Morocco will host the African Cup of Nations in football. Many world-class kickboxers and MMA fighters are from Morocco.

Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, known as “King of the Mile,” was the dominant middle distance runner in the world for ten years starting in the mid 1990s and holds the world record 1500 metres, mile and 2000 metres. He is a 3-time Olympic medalist, winning gold in the 1500 metre and 5000 metre races in Athens in 2004.

Athletes

Daniel Arroyo
Sport: Parkour
Age: 24
Hometown: Tampa, Florida

One of the founding members of the World Freerunning and Parkour Federation, Arroyo takes a very serious approach to Parkour, practicing every day. He achieved YouTube fame as the inventor of "The Cast Bomb," a very high-risk move, and has continued to be an innovator in Parkour.

Arroyo has been climbing and jumping since he was a child. He has a diverse athletic background playing soccer, wrestling, baseball and basketball, as well as bodybuilding, boxing, inline skating, breakdancing and bowling.

"I love movement. I try to tie whatever I can into my own movement and illustrate it in whatever environment I come across," says Arroyo.

Phil Doyle
Sport: Parkour
Age: 19
Hometown: Cambridge, United Kingdom

One of the founding members of the World Freerunning and Parkour Federation, Doyle is known for his incredible balance, accuracy and execution.

Doyle first discovered Parkour in the summer of 2005 while on vacation and was instantly attracted to the artistry and science of the moves. He enjoys the physical and mental challenges of the sport and is inspired to increase his knowledge about the physics of movement and how the body works.

Doyle travels around the world with other top Parkour practitioners to train and challenge himself in new environments. He values the absolute truths of mathematics and physics and applies them to his Parkour philosophy.

Host - Sophie Simone Cortina

Sophie Cortina inherited her passion for sports from her father Alfonso. Growing up in Mexico City, she excelled as a nationally ranked gymnast. In her teens, she embarked on a career as a successful professional tennis player, competing in the US Open, French Open and Wimbledon. Cortina graduated from the University of Miami while on a tennis scholarship, but her career was soon cut short by a shoulder injury.

Cortina has taken her love of sports from the playing field to television as a reporter and host for international events. She has covered the Little League World Series, ESPN Tennis, and the FIFA World Cup.

Handball: Spain

Team Handball

It’s soccer with your hands. Basketball with a soccer-style net. Water polo on land. Ice hockey with a ball. The result is a game as exciting as any in the world, producing dynamic action and rewarding superior athleticism. And that’s only the start of the appeal of team handball.

Team handball is played on a court similar to that of indoor soccer, with seven players on a side. The object is to throw the ball into the goal, protected by the keeper – the only player in the game who can kick the ball. All other players move the ball up the court by dribbling it, like in basketball; by hitting it with any part of the body above and including the knee; or by throwing it to another teammate or towards the goal. Three steps are permitted without dribbling, and each player can only take three seconds to decide to pass, shoot, or dribble.

Team handball enjoys its greatest popularity in Europe, especially Spain, Scandinavia, Russia, Germany, France and the Balkan countries. In many of these areas, the game’s popularity is surpassed only by football (soccer). In men’s handball, the top two professional leagues are the Spanish Liga ASOBAL and the German Handball Bundesliga.

Originally played outdoors with eleven players per side, the game evolved into its current form after World War II, with the indoor version debuting at the Olympics in the 1970s. The French men’s team and the Norwegian women’s team are the reigning Olympic champions.

In no game is teamwork more important than team handball. And in no game can teamwork be more exciting.

Location - Spain

Football (soccer) is synonymous with Spain. The country is passionate about the sport, playing it, watching it, and constantly talking about the game. Football is played at an elite level throughout Spain, and the country's national team won the sport's biggest prize, the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The rivalry between teams Real Madrid and Futbol Club Barcelona stirs deep passion all across the Iberian Peninsula. FC Barcelona are the current European and domestic league champions, while their star player, Lionel “Leo” Messi is regarded by many as the world's top player.

Nestled on the Mediterranean coast, Barcelona is Spain’s second largest city after the capital, Madrid. It is a vibrant and diverse city with a rich history of commerce and culture. Home to over 5 million, the people of Barcelona use the cities’ many parks and fields to actively participate in sports. The city hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics and is bidding for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Tennis great Rafael Nadal, the number two-ranked player in the world and winner of nine Grand Slam titles hails from Spain, as does Alberto Contador, considered to be the top cyclist in the world and a 3-time winner of the Tour De France. The national handball team won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, while the Spanish professional handball and basketball leagues are among the elite in Europe. Other notable Spanish athletes playing today include NBA players Pau and Marc Gasol, golfer Sergio Garcia, and cyclist Carlos Sastre.

Players

Victor Tomas Gonzalez
Sport: Team Handball
Team: FC Barcelona
Position: Right Wing
Age: 26
Hometown: Barcelona, Spain

Growing up in Barcelona, Gonzalez dreamed of playing for the FC Barcelona handball team. This became a reality when he joined the junior team in 1998 and progressed to the first team squad for the 2002-03 season. Known for his great pace and skilled defensive work, he can play all parts of the court.

As a member of FC Barcelona, Gonzalez has won two European Handball Federation championships and three Liga ASOBAL championships, the top league in Spain. The team has also won numerous tournaments nationally and throughout Europe.

Gonzalez won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics as part of the Spanish National Handball team. He was also voted best junior player in Spain in 1999.

Jesper Noddesbo
Sport: Team Handball
Team: FC Barcelona
Position: Center
Age: 31
Hometown: Herning, Denmark

Starting his fifth season with FC Barcelona, Noddesbo is both an attacking and defensive center. Known for his imposing presence on the court, he is fearless with great skill and reaction time.

Raised in Denmark, Noddesbo began playing youth handball and rose to the Danish professional ranks with KIF Kolding. He plays on the Dutch National Handball team, wining the European Championship in 2008. In 155 games for his country, Noddesbo has scored 85 goals.

As a member of FC Barcelona, Noddesbo won the European Handball Federation championship in 2011 as well as the Liga ASOBAL championship, the top league in Spain. The team has also won numerous tournaments nationally and throughout Europe.

Xavi Pascual
Sport: Team Handball
Team: FC Barcelona
Position: Head Coach
Age: 43
Hometown: Barcelona

Pascual became head coach of FC Barcelona Handball in February 2009, after serving as first team assistant coach. In 2011, he led the team to the European Handball Federation championship as well as the Liga ASOBOL championship, the top league in Spain.

Born in Barcelona, he played for FC Barcelona youth handball teams and debuted with the first team in the 1986 season as a keeper (goalie). During his eighteen year playing career, Pascual was a keeper for several teams in the Liga ASOBOL. In 2005 he joined the FC Barcelona staff as a goalkeeping coach and the following season added youth team coordinator to his duties.

Host - Sophie Simone Cortina

Sophie Cortina inherited her passion for sports from her father Alfonso. Growing up in Mexico City, she excelled as a nationally ranked gymnast. In her teens, she embarked on a career as a successful professional tennis player, competing in the US Open, French Open and Wimbledon. Cortina graduated from the University of Miami on a tennis scholarship, but her career was abruptly ended by a shoulder injury.

Cortina has taken her love of sports from the playing field to television as a reporter and host for international events. She has covered the Little League World Series, ESPN Tennis, and the FIFA World Cup.

Fluent in Spanish, French and English, Cortina’s multi-lingual background was on display in Barcelona, Spain this summer with the FC Barcelona handball team. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 allowed her to stay connected and research the reigning European Champions.

Street Soccer: Brazil

Street Soccer

As long as there has been a football to kick, kids have been playing the game on the streets and alleys of neighborhoods around the world. Street football has endless varieties based on the number of players, rules and even whether there is scoring or not.

One version of the game that is currently being played in tournaments in Asia is an adaptation of five-on-five futsal. Played outside on a caged, oval street football field, it is action-packed throughout the 12-minute halves. The flat, smooth surface and goal are the same as in futsal, but the field has sidewalls and is smaller, creating a faster-paced game. A unique twist in this variety of street football is that any player can be the goalie at any time. The first player in the box can use their hands to defend their goal. Substitutions are only allowed during halftime or due to injury.

The Grand Final of Tiger Street Football was played this past September in Malaysia. The tournament featured teams from Asia, Europe and South America with ADC Florianópolis of Brazil defeating 2nd Place Street Legends of Holland 4-1 in the Grand Final.

The sport of street football will continue to evolve as the players find innovative ways to play the game they love.

Brazil

There are only four countries in the world bigger than Brazil, but there may be none with a more wide-ranging and diverse sporting culture. With the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics both on Brazilian soil, the nation will soon showcase its love of sport to the world.

Here, football (soccer) reigns supreme. The national team has won the FIFA World Cup a record five times. Pele, one of the greatest players of all-time, is a national hero, and the most celebrated of a long line of Brazilian superstars. Football is so popular in Brazil that it’s produced a sister game, known as futsal, which has its origins on the country’s streets. Now a professional sport played indoors, it is five-sided indoor football, high-paced and high-scoring. With its emphasis on skill and technique, the top domestic league, Liga Futsal, is a training ground for football players. Perhaps not surprisingly, the national team won the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup, held in Brazil.

Along the country’s thousands of miles of beaches, there are countless beach volleyball games to be found, and the Brazilians are among the elite in international competition on the sand. Also, the men’s indoor national volleyball team has won the last three World Championships, and the top-ranked women’s team are the reigning Olympic champions. On the racetrack, the Brazilian Grand Prix has long been a fixture on the Formula One circuit, and champion drivers Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and the late Ayrton Senna all hail from Brazil.

In the southern part of the country, there’s a city along the coast that just might be Brazil’s unlikeliest sports capital. It’s called Florianópolis, and is composed of one main island, Santa Catarina, as well as a continental part and surrounding small islands. Nicknamed the Magic Island, it has a population of one million, and is considered to have some of the best and most consistent surfing in Brazil. There are two professional football teams and one professional futsal team in the city and it’s also the hometown of professional tennis player Gustavo Kuerten.

It is a country where the passion for sports knows no bounds. And in the years ahead, with the two biggest sporting events set to take place on its soil, the world will discover just how majestic and beautiful Brazil’s love affair with sports can be.

Players

Denison Cabral
Sport: Street Football
Team: ADC Florianópolis
Age: 27
Hometown: Florianópolis, Brazil

Cabral is captain of the ADC Florianópolis street football (soccer) team that was formed in 2011. This spring in the inaugural Tiger Street Football league, the team won tournaments in Thailand and Singapore against an international field. At the Grand Final in September, ADC Florianópolis were the champions, besting Street Legends 4-1.

At the age of 15, Cabral began playing professional futsal in Brazil for S.E.R. Sadia and Palmeiras Futsal Clubs. He then moved to the United States to pursue a career in indoor soccer. Cabral played thirteen seasons of professional indoor soccer for the Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1997 until 2010. A five-time MISL All-Star, he is the all-time leading point scorer in franchise history with 941 points. In the 2002-03 season, he won his first championship and was named MVP of the 2003 MISL Finals after leading the Blast with 14 points in the playoffs. Cabral won a total of five championships during his years as a midfielder with the Blast.

Cabral became a U.S. citizen on May 11, 2007 and became a member of the U.S. Futsal National Team. He was captain of the team at the 2008 FIFA World Cup that was played in his native Brazil. He is also the president and director of coaching of the Denison Cabral Futsal Academy, working with players from ages 4 to 19 in Maryland.

Host - Sal Masekela

Sal Masekela has served as a host for the X Games and Winter X Games since 2001. A versatile broadcaster, producer and actor, he has a passion for action sports.

Masekela reported from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, covering cultural and human-interest stories for ESPN and ABC. He has hosted the monthly EXPN 2Day series, ClassiX, X Center, the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skatepark Tour and X in Concert. Other assignments have included sideline reporting for ESPN’s NBA games and as host of ESPN The Life.

Residing in southern California, Masekela is an avid surfer, snowboarder and skater. While on location off the coast of Brazil with ADC Florianópolis, the Samsung Galaxy SII allowed him to capture all the action.

Street Soccer: Brazil

Street Soccer

As long as there has been a football to kick, kids have been playing the game on the streets and alleys of neighborhoods around the world. Street football has endless varieties based on the number of players, rules and even whether there is scoring or not.

One version of the game that is currently being played in tournaments in Asia is an adaptation of five-on-five futsal. Played outside on a caged, oval street football field, it is action-packed throughout the 12-minute halves. The flat, smooth surface and goal are the same as in futsal, but the field has sidewalls and is smaller, creating a faster-paced game. A unique twist in this variety of street football is that any player can be the goalie at any time. The first player in the box can use their hands to defend their goal. Substitutions are only allowed during halftime or due to injury.

The Grand Final of Tiger Street Football was played this past September in Malaysia. The tournament featured teams from Asia, Europe and South America with ADC Florianópolis of Brazil defeating 2nd Place Street Legends of Holland 4-1 in the Grand Final.

The sport of street football will continue to evolve as the players find innovative ways to play the game they love.

Brazil

There are only four countries in the world bigger than Brazil, but there may be none with a more wide-ranging and diverse sporting culture. With the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics both on Brazilian soil, the nation will soon showcase its love of sport to the world.

Here, football (soccer) reigns supreme. The national team has won the FIFA World Cup a record five times. Pele, one of the greatest players of all-time, is a national hero, and the most celebrated of a long line of Brazilian superstars. Football is so popular in Brazil that it’s produced a sister game, known as futsal, which has its origins on the country’s streets. Now a professional sport played indoors, it is five-sided indoor football, high-paced and high-scoring. With its emphasis on skill and technique, the top domestic league, Liga Futsal, is a training ground for football players. Perhaps not surprisingly, the national team won the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup, held in Brazil.

Along the country’s thousands of miles of beaches, there are countless beach volleyball games to be found, and the Brazilians are among the elite in international competition on the sand. Also, the men’s indoor national volleyball team has won the last three World Championships, and the top-ranked women’s team are the reigning Olympic champions. On the racetrack, the Brazilian Grand Prix has long been a fixture on the Formula One circuit, and champion drivers Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and the late Ayrton Senna all hail from Brazil.

In the southern part of the country, there’s a city along the coast that just might be Brazil’s unlikeliest sports capital. It’s called Florianópolis, and is composed of one main island, Santa Catarina, as well as a continental part and surrounding small islands. Nicknamed the Magic Island, it has a population of one million, and is considered to have some of the best and most consistent surfing in Brazil. There are two professional football teams and one professional futsal team in the city and it’s also the hometown of professional tennis player Gustavo Kuerten.

It is a country where the passion for sports knows no bounds. And in the years ahead, with the two biggest sporting events set to take place on its soil, the world will discover just how majestic and beautiful Brazil’s love affair with sports can be.

Players

Denison Cabral
Sport: Street Football
Team: ADC Florianópolis
Age: 27
Hometown: Florianópolis, Brazil

Cabral is captain of the ADC Florianópolis street football (soccer) team that was formed in 2011. This spring in the inaugural Tiger Street Football league, the team won tournaments in Thailand and Singapore against an international field. At the Grand Final in September, ADC Florianópolis were the champions, besting Street Legends 4-1.

At the age of 15, Cabral began playing professional futsal in Brazil for S.E.R. Sadia and Palmeiras Futsal Clubs. He then moved to the United States to pursue a career in indoor soccer. Cabral played thirteen seasons of professional indoor soccer for the Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1997 until 2010. A five-time MISL All-Star, he is the all-time leading point scorer in franchise history with 941 points. In the 2002-03 season, he won his first championship and was named MVP of the 2003 MISL Finals after leading the Blast with 14 points in the playoffs. Cabral won a total of five championships during his years as a midfielder with the Blast.

Cabral became a U.S. citizen on May 11, 2007 and became a member of the U.S. Futsal National Team. He was captain of the team at the 2008 FIFA World Cup that was played in his native Brazil. He is also the president and director of coaching of the Denison Cabral Futsal Academy, working with players from ages 4 to 19 in Maryland.

Host - Sal Masekela

Sal Masekela has served as a host for the X Games and Winter X Games since 2001. A versatile broadcaster, producer and actor, he has a passion for action sports.

Masekela reported from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, covering cultural and human-interest stories for ESPN and ABC. He has hosted the monthly EXPN 2Day series, ClassiX, X Center, the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skatepark Tour and X in Concert. Other assignments have included sideline reporting for ESPN’s NBA games and as host of ESPN The Life.

Residing in southern California, Masekela is an avid surfer, snowboarder and skater. While on location off the coast of Brazil with ADC Florianópolis, the Samsung Galaxy SII allowed him to capture all the action.