2019 Nestle Milo Sec. Sch. Basketball Championships: Bayelsa to clash with Yola to dunk off finals
St. Jude Girls Secondary School, Amarata, Bayelsa, the 2018 champions of Nestle Milo Secondary School Basketball Championships will begin their title defence against Gov. Sec. School Numan, Yola, to dunk-off the national finals on June 30.
Another team making an impact in the competition and which also will be defending their title won in 2018 is Father O’Connell Science College, Port Harcourt, Rivers.
Father O’Connell Science College will dunk-off the Boys category when they clash with Victorroti Private Secondary School, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the national draws held on Thursday at the National Stadium, Lagos, shows that six teams each for boys and girls will jostle for the championships trophy.
There will also be cash prize, basketball kits and lots of Nestle Milo goodies in both boys and girls categories.
The national finals will be decided from June 30 to July 4.
According to the Category Manager, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Olufemi Akintola, the competition brings together no fewer than 10,000 schools every year, a number that has been growing from 500 schools since inception in 1999.
He said that the school games had grown beyond just a sport to a passion that helps to discipline the body and mind.
“As we know, the game requires hard work, players also learn to exert their skills each time they participate in the game and younger generations have so much to learn from.
“The company is passionate to develop the youth through basketball because it instills critical values such as discipline, determination and team work in them.
“We are also proud of our achievements for the 21 years of the competition where many young players have grown up to responsible individual in various fields of life.
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“Some have also continued their basketball careers and gone ahead to win club, national and international laurels for themselves,’’ Akintola said.
Akintola added that the Lagos State Government, the Ministry of Youths and Sports, the states Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) had been very supportive and had remained committed to our vision.
He also thanked the Nigeria Basketball Federations (NBBF), the National School Sports Federation (NSSF) and the National Collegiate Foundation (NSF), for their support over the last 21 years of their successful operations.
The Vice-President of NBBF, Babs Ogunade expressed gratitude to the management of Nestle Milo Nigeria for being the major driving force of grassroots basketball.
He said that the all-conquering 2017 senior national female team, D’Tigress, had five products of the Nestle Milo Basketball championships. (NAN)
