PBA, Coca-Cola launch 3rd Youngstars program

MANILA, Philippines – Coca-Cola Philippines and the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) are reaching out and promoting sports to the Filipino youth for the third straight year.

Launched on Wednesday, March 26, the Coca-Cola PBA Youngstars is a nationwide grassroots program that reaches out to more than 7,000 aspiring ballers aged 13 to 16 across different cities, provinces and municipalities in the country.

PBA Commissioner Atty. Chito Salud and Atty. Adel Tamano, Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications of Coca-Cola Philippines, signed the agreement on Wednesday’s PBA game day at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. 

Atty. Adel Tamano, Commissioner Chito Salud sign the MOA for this year’s Coca-Cola PBA YoungStars #rstream pic.twitter.com/UEL1eu7UQr

— Jane Bracher (@janebracher) March 26, 2014

“We are happy with the response of the local communities and teens who participated in the try-outs and basketball clinics,” Atty. Tamano said. 

“Since we started the program in 2012, we were able to promote active, healthy participation in over 6,000 teens. We look forward to engaging more teens in the coming years as we inspire them to move and be active through their favorite sports.”

The Youngstars program, which aims to “develop and support programs that promote active, healthy living in communities,” will kick off try outs on April 1. 

The Metro Manila locations include Valenzuela, Las Pinas, Taguig, Quezon City, Marikina, Malabon, Muntinlupa, Manila, Paranaque, Pasig, San Juan, and Antipolo. Meanwhile, provincial try outs cover Pampanga, Baguio, Pangasinan, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Zamboanga, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro. 

“The past few years that we have been partnering with Coca-Cola have been very fruitful,” Atty. Salud said. “Now that the Coca-Cola PBA Youngstars is on its third year, we are more excited to tap more youth to participate in sports such as basketball.” – Rappler.com