JOSÉ LAIME FROM PAZ IS THE NATIONAL FREESTYLE SOCCER CHAMPION
For the second year in a row José Laime from La Paz city took over the Red Bull Street Style National Final and will represent Bolivia in the World Final next April 14th 2010 in South Africa.
Hundreds of spectators got together in the Manzana 1 – art center in the historical square in Santa Cruz city – to witness the Red Bull Street Style National Final in Bolivia, where the best 8 freestyle soccer players from all over the country battled for the national title and the Bolivian spot in the World Final. José Laime –former 2008 national champion – won the title, astonishing the crowd with his freestyle tricks and his breakdance moves.
“I want to thank all the people that supported me today and also to Red Bull because they made this dream true for me and the other ballers. I also want to thank all the participants because they did a great job and to Santa Cruz city for a warm welcome. I will do my best to show the best of the Bolivian freestyle soccer in South Africa.” Said Jose Laime after receiving his trophy.
1 ball, 2 players, 3 minutes
The battle started at 2:00 p.m. under the typical 30ºC heat in Santa Cruz city. With the rhythm of DJ Genova`s beats in the background, B-boy Alby, the event’s host, called the 8 participants to the stage: Randy Muller from Cochabamba; Rodrigo Irahola, Marvin Rodríguez, Gabriel Soliz and Johani Duran from Santa Cruz; Rodrigo Conde Ramirez, Wilmer Huanca and José Laime from La Paz, presented themselves showing a freestyle soccer trick.
At the rhythm of the break, funk and hip hop the participants competed in seven one-to-one battles that lasted 3 minutes in which they had the ball for 20 seconds before passing it to their opponent. The first round of battles where vibrant and exciting, but Rodrigo Conde Ramirez, Rhandy Muller, Marvin Rodriguez and Jose Laime, were the best to the eyes of the jury and passed to the semifinals.
Something amazing during the semi final battles was the support of the crowd. Cheers and applauses were all over the place for the local participants. But despite the cheering for the Santa Cruz players Rhandi Muller from Cochabamba and Jose Laime from La Paz passed to the final battle.
The final was filled with a nice combination of intermediate and crazy tricks showing great creativity and style from both participants. The practice of these athletes was noticed during the last 3 minutes and it was a difficult decision, but finally Jose Laime had what the jury was looking for: The perfect combination of freestyle soccer and stage performance that he proved when performed his famous back flip grabbing the ball in the air. Jose Laime is still the national champion and will have a new opportunity to represent Bolivia in the Red Bull Street Style World Final 2010.
A panel of judges composed by experts in soccer and art was in charge of choosing the winner of each battle. The ex-player for the Bolivian Soccer selection Marco Antonio “El Diablo” Echeverri, the well known sports journalist Mauricio Cambará, editor of the newspaper El Deber, the soccer player Francisco Arellano from the team Oriente Petrolero and the break dancer B-Boy Blass had the difficult task to evaluate the eight participants judging their control, creativity and style while performing freestyle soccer tricks.
El “diablo” Echeverri resumed the event as a “High level competition,” and said “I was very happy to see a lot of talent today. Jose Laime won because he showed a great technique and original tricks. Now he just has to practice for the World Final.”
