SEVEN boys and six girls topped the Regional Selection Camp of Jr. National Basketball Association (NBA) Philippines 2019 presented by Alaska held at St. Louis of Don Bosco in Dumaguete City on March 30 and 31. The 13 young basketball players will represent Visayas at the National Training Camp in Metro Manila from May 17 to 19.

Dumaguete hosted the league’s youth basketball participation program for the first time, providing campers with world-class basketball instruction from Jr. NBA coaches led by Jr. NBA Coach Rob Newson and former PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) players Tony Dela Cruz and Willie Miller. The selected athletes excelled in a combination of basketball activities and competition and demonstrated the core values of the game throughout the camp.

The Visayan contingent of Jr. NBA campers will join outstanding players from the Regional Selection Camps in Benguet, Butuan, Lucena, and Metro Manila, and a select group from the Alaska Power Camp at the National Training Camp to vie to be named as Jr. NBA Philippines All-Star.

New this year, Jr. NBA Philippines All-Stars—composed of as many as five boys and five girls—will join the first Jr. NBA Global Championship Asia Pacific Selection Camp, a week-long camp in June that includes top youth players from the Asia-Pacific region excluding China.

In addition, the Asia-Pacific regional competition will send the 2019 batch of Jr. NBA All-Stars to represent the region at the Jr. NBA Global Championship from Aug. 6 to 11 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida. The international event will showcase talented youth from the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, China, Mexico, Africa, India and the Asia-Pacific.

Boys and girls aged 10 to 14 years old can still join the remaining Jr. NBA Philippines Regional Selection Camps in Butuan (April 13 and 14) and Metro Manila (April 27 and 28) by registering at www.jrnba.asia/philippines.

Jr. NBA Philippines 2019 is presented by Alaska, with AXA, Gatorade, Globe, Panasonic, Rexona and Vivo as official partners. ABS-CBN S+A, Basketball TV and NBA Premium TV are the official broadcasters of Jr. NBA Philippines. (PR)