NBA, Alaska expands youth basketball program to Filipino girls

The Jr. NBA presented by Alaska Milk Corporation returns to the Philippines for the seventh consecutive year, this time with a new basketball program exclusively for girls.The National Basketball Association (NBA) is expanding the international youth development program in the country to include the Jr. WNBA to educate more children about sportsmanship, teamwork and active lifestyle.“This year, both girl and boy players will get the opportunity to participate in school clinics and selection camps in numerous venues across the country, and we look forward to our largest and most successful program yet,” Wilfred Steven Uytengsu, president and CEO of Alaska.Activities for the year include school clinics and coaching seminars in the lead up to Regional Selection Camps. The first school clinic of the season started on 19 January in Manila and will move on to Cebu, Puerto Princesa and Dagupan City, including first-time stops in Surigao and Iloilo City.Regional Selection Camps will be held in March and April, after which the top 50 boys and top 24 girls will participate in the Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA National Training Camp in Manila from 25 -27 April.The NBA’s youth advocacies is chiefly sponsored by Alaska Milk while Gatorade and Phoenix Petroleum are official partners together with KFC and Spalding as supporting partners.The official venues for the main events are The SM Mall of Asia and SM Cinemas while the official NBA broadcasters are Basketball TV, NBA Premium TV and ABS-CBN Sports.