Milo BEST

Did you know that there are two events in May that have become an annual tradition? Aside from the Fiestas of May, also standing out is the Milo backed BEST basketball clinic better known as “Milo BEST.”

The Milo BEST is actually a partnership between two leaders in their respective fields. For the past three decades, this has stood out as a benchmark and icon in youth basketball. When one talks about summer clinics for basketball, Milo BEST is always a top-of-mind mention among basketball afficionados. It’s only apt that Milo tied up with the BEST Center for its basketball clinics. It’s a perfect match between a market leader in the chocolate drink industry, and a pioneer/leader in the realm of basketball clinics/training in the Basketball Efficiency and Scientific (BEST) Training Center.

Milo has always been known as the “Olympic Energy Drink” and has been associated with sports for as long as it has been in the market. If you pick up a Milo product off the shelf of a supermarket, you can’t help but notice the picture of a sports figure smack in the middle of the packaging. Among its biggest marketing projects include the nationwide run of the Milo Marathon, the Milo Little Olympics and the Milo BEST SBP/Passerelle Twin Tournament. Ending yesterday was the Milo Junior Tennis Cup-Visayas Leg that was played here in Cebu.

On the training side, Milo’s annual Summer Sports Clinics program involving a variety of sports has become a fixture every year in the country’s major cities. Contrary to what many think, basketball isn’t the only sport in the Milo Summer Sports Clinic program. They’re also into volleyball, football, tae kwon do, chess, table tennis, tennis, swimming, badminton, bowling, gymnastics, ice skating, and karatedo.

In the basketball scene, the Milo BEST clinic stands out for its unique combination of teaching the basics, creating camaraderie and instilling discipline in an atmosphere of fun among its students. The clinic also serves as a complementary (not competitive) training venue to the existing basketball programs of the different schools that have their own basketball teams. Students always come out of a Milo BEST Clinic sharing their experiences with their friends and classmates after having had the chance to train and play with students from other schools. The more competitive student-players take back to their mother teams the “back to basics” mentality that is often missing in the flow of practice sessions of today’s teams. The irony of it all is that while the Milo BEST clinic has gained the respect of the basketball community, it hasn’t done anything fancy except preach the importance of the basics or fundamentals.

For this year, the Milo BEST Clinic in Cebu will run from May 17 to 22 at the Sacred Heart School Campus Gym along Gen. Maxilom Avenue (Mango). Doors will open at 7am for registration while the clinic proper will start at 8am. Coach Rodolfo “Ompong” Segura will be the lead coach/trainer for the clinic. Segura was responsible for starting the first series of clinics in Cebu back in the 90s and is thus making a comeback of sorts after having been assigned elsewhere for the past three years. Coach Ompong was a member of the fabled Toyota Tamaraws squad of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) where he played alongside Ramon Fernandez, Robert Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz. Segura also handles the activities of the Milo BEST Center in Southern Luzon.

Expected to attend the clinic are students from different schools across the Visayas and Northern Mindanao including Dumaguete, Butuan, Tagbilaran and Tacloban. Also enrolled are players of the schools playing in the annual Milo BEST SBP/Passerelle Twin Tournament such as Visayas back-to-back defending Passerelle champion Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu and current Cebu SBP champion University of San Carlos (USC) South Campus. USC North, UC, Don Bosco, USPF, USJR, CIT, PAREF Springdale, CEC, SWU, SCSIT and UV will also be sending its players to the six-day clinic. The clinic though, is open to anyone, and not just schools with basketball teams.

The Milo BEST Basketball Clinic. The best from both worlds: two leaders, two giants getting together for an annual fiesta of basketball basics and fun.

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Time-out: For more info about the Milo BEST Basketball Clinic, pls contact 583-7196, 0918-939-4846 or [email protected].