All About U's Seven On The Line: Aldwin Ibanez and John Larracas. The Rockstars of Boon.
This band of brothers doesn't need any introduction in the Ultimate world. They are the ones responsible for your awesome Ultimate jerseys and shorts, really cool Rucksacks and comfortable socks. (I love the socks!). They have this little tournament this weekend in Clark, Pampanga with teams and athletes from all over the world headlining the event. It's called Boon Rockstar Cup. And these two right here are the real rockstars of the weekend.
Let's get to know more about the people behind Boon Technical Clothing, and how important it is for this dream become a reality.
Aldwin Ibanez, John "Jolas" Larracas and Joseph "Jopet" Manzano are on the hot seat today to answer the Seven Questions in this very special edition of AAU's Seven On The Line.
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| All photos are from Aldwin Ibanez, John Larracas, and Boon Facebook pages. |
Who is, and can you tell us something about the man behind Boon Technical Clothing?
There is not one man behind Boon Technical Clothing. Although the vision may have started
with one person, it wouldn’t have been executed well without friends, partners, and all the support that Boon has encountered all these years.
with one person, it wouldn’t have been executed well without friends, partners, and all the support that Boon has encountered all these years.
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| Aldwin Ibanez |
Can you share with us the humble beginnings of Boon?
Boon began the same way most things in life begin, with a vision. Aldwin was on a climbing trip when he had the idea to make his own climbing gear. He went into making climbing gear, then it expanded to yoga, marathons, and when he and his mountaineering friends started playing Ultimate, he also ventured into the sport, which is the Boon Technical Clothing that we know now in the community.
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| John "Jolas" Larracas |
Where did you get all the inspirations, ideas and motivation all these years?
Everything that has happened in Boon resulted from that one vision in the beginning stages, and everything that’s happening now is a cycle of observation-vision-execution. What does the community need, how can we make that happen, and so on.
Why do we have Boon Rockstar Cup?
Having had the chance to witness Ultimate in different countries, we have observed what these communities had in contrast and in common. Let’s say, comparing US and Asia, there is a huge gap between these two communities, and what we’re aspiring is to be instrumental in bridging that gap by bringing elite-level competition to Asia.
The first Boon Rockstar Cup was mainly a result of friendship. We have been blessed to have made a lot of friends in different parts of the world, and what we wanted for BRSC2017 was gather these friends in one venue, in one project, and of course, here in our home.
How did the dream start?
This dream started as little thoughts in our heads. You know, those aspirations that you get when you watch intense games, go to events and such. It started taking shape one night while sharing a few beers, ideas just kept flowing out, and after some crazy and tedious preparations, there we had it, the 2015 Under the Manila Lights Exhibition Game Series.
What does it take to fulfill the Boon Rockstar Dream?
We are now on the third phase of our Boon Rockstar Dream - first, the exhibition games, BRSC2017, and this coming BRSC2018. It’s a learning process to know everything it takes to fulfill that dream. What we discovered is that the single most vital element to fulfilling this dream is to have the community share this dream with us, too. We can be dreaming big things for Ultimate but we cannot achieve that dream if the community doesn’t share this vision with us. Without it, to act towards the Boon Rockstar Dream is futile because we are dreaming for the community.
What are the real aspirations of Boon for Philippine Ultimate? What are the challenges that you face for having this ambitious event, and what does it take to make this year's Boon Rockstar Cup unforgettable?
We have too many aspirations both for Philippine Ultimate and Asian Ultimate as a whole. As we mentioned earlier, one is to bridge the gap between the leading countries and Asian countries. We aspire to provide our athletes' venues for improving their game so that they get equipped with skills and confidence to face strong countries in international and worlds championships. We aspire to discover and groom young athletes so that one day, when Ultimate finally gets to share the Olympic stage with other sports, we can say, “Yes, we are Olympics-ready!”
Big dreams always come with huge challenges hahaha there are a lot, and what we like about it is that it gets us to think critically and open our eyes to realities we never had thought in the planning stages. The biggest challenge that we face is having people onboard to share our dream. We’re blessed to have our partners, our team, our sponsors, and all we need is the support of the community for which we do these things.
This is definitely going to be an unforgettable Boon Rockstar Cup! We have a great pool of teams - our Rockstar headliners Buzz Bullets and Black Widows, all these teams preparing for the Worlds, and all these upcoming teams who are out to test themselves and see how they match up against these elite teams. For all our Rockstar players, what it would take to make Boon Rockstar Cup 2018 truly unforgettable is for them to play with all they have - heart, mind, and most important, Spirit.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Rockstars of Boon!
See you all this weekend for the 2018 Boon Rockstar Cup at The Villages at Global Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga.
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