Dutch Lady ‘Drink. Move. Be Strong’ Alumni Stars Training Camp

Just like how our bodies need the nourishment of milk to grow or maintain strong bones, athletic skills also require constant sharpening to stay on top of the game. Thus, Dutch Lady Malaysia gave the young rising stars of Malaysian basketball an opportunity to be trained under the best in the field, namely the KL Dragons Basketball Academy.

The Dutch Lady Alumni Stars Training Camp conducted last weekend saw the participation of 10 athletes from Jr NBA Malaysia, a youth basketball programme supported by Dutch Lady Malaysia since 2014 to spread the message of ‘Drink. Move. Be Strong’ with the mission of building stronger Malaysian children physically and emotionally. This marks the first time that all the batches under the programme – from 2014 to the most recent 2016 cohort – get to hone their skills on the same court.

“At Dutch Lady Malaysia, we believe that every child’s growth and development is heavily influenced by both nutrition and daily exercise. That is why we advocate that every young Malaysian drinks two glasses of milk and spends at least an hour on outdoor activities every day through our Drink.Move.Be Strong campaign, says Ashlee Ng, Marketing Director of Dutch Lady Malaysia.

Milk provides essential nutrients such as calcium which helps to develop strong bones and teeth, protein which plays one of the lead roles in our growth and development, such as building of muscle and tissues, and Vitamin D3 aids absorption of calcium and phosphorus.

Top (Left to Right): Adrie Adlan, Pang Kin Sing, Avinaash Vasu, Coach Joselito Vergara, leading coach of KL Dragons Basketball Academy, Coach Ghazi, coaching staff of KL Dragons Ball Basketball Academy, Connor Clyde Chua Bottom (Left to Right) : Hee Heong Yee, Sin Chun Kit, Wong Wei Hui (2014), Ito Chenn (2016) , Edna Lim (2015) and Nur Adila (2015)

Leading the camp was Coach Joselito Vergara and Coach Ghazi, the coaching staff of the KL Dragons Basketball Academy – renowned for its elite players and performance in the regional ASEAN basketball league.

“Our aim is not to train these young basketball talents for a single, one-off tournament or event. Instead, our goal is to encourage these young athletes to continue their momentum in basketball and take their talents as far as they can, even in college or pursue it as a profession. Just like our campaign, ‘Drink. Move. Be Strong’ is a lifelong commitment for a healthy lifestyle that includes good nutrition and physical activity like basketball,” says Ashlee Ng, Marketing Director of Dutch Lady Malaysia.

She adds that the ‘Drink. Move. Be Strong’ Training Camp is a great platform for the brand to catch up with the previous Jr NBA cohorts, track their progress and sharpen their skills. Each batch will also be able to interact and learn from the other.

The training schedule is intensive. Warm-ups and morning jogs happened as early as 7 a.m., followed by conditioning drills, gym sessions, team building and a 5-hour basketball session. On the last day of the training camp, the participants also put the new moves they learned into practice at a friendly match with Malaysia National Basketball Team (Men’s Junior).

Pang Kin Sing, dubbed the Most Valuable Player (MVP) among the Jr NBA Malaysia Alumni, was grateful for the new tips he learned from the coaches of KL Dragons, such as strategies for attacks and defense or the trick to score without needing to dribble the ball. Even though the 15-year-old has been playing basketball since five years ago, he believes in continuous improvement. After all, his motto is “doing your best is not enough”.

To up his game, Pang believes in eating and drinking nutritiously. His parents try to support the son’s energetic lifestyle by feeding him balanced meals. It also helps that the lanky and chatty youth is a big fan of milk.

“I believe in ‘Drink. Move. Be Strong’. Since drinking milk more frequently, I found that I have more energy to move faster and longer on the court. This allows me to train effectively and be a stronger player,” he adds with a grin.

Sin Chun Kit, MVP for Junior NBA Malaysia 2016, agrees that drinking milk make a difference to his energy level and he’ll make sure he gets a packet of Dutch Lady milk during breakfast, as well as another before he sleeps at night.

Sin Chun Kit, who was named the MVP for Jr NBA Malaysia 2016, agrees that drinking milk does make a difference to his energy level. He has the habit of drinking a packet of Dutch Lady milk at breakfast, as well as another before he sleeps at night.

 A petite player compared with his peers, Sin admits that he is also hoping that the calcium in milk will help him grow taller. In fact, he started playing basketball at the age of 9 for the same reason as well. Now, at the age of 15, he loves the sport for allowing him to meet new teammates and make new friends easily.

“You can’t play basketball alone. During this Alumni Stars Training Camp, I have learnt that teamwork is only possible if we maintain a positive attitude and sportsmanship no matter if we win or lose. The coach taught me that we should not only respect our own team members, but also our competitors as well,” he says.

Connor Clyde Chua, from Junior NBA 2014 finds the training camp to be a refresher course he didn’t know he needed as it helps him to strengthen his basic foundation and build more advanced moves on it

His cohort mate, Connor Clyde Chua, finds the training camp to be a refresher course he did not know he needed.

“Having played basketball for the past 10 years, I have continued to learn new moves and strategies. The downside of this is that I tend to forget the basics that I have learnt in my early years of playing, and those are important foundations as well. Hence, I’m really happy that this training camp gives me the opportunity to strengthen my basic foundation and build more advanced moves on it,” says the 17-year-old.

Impressed with the participants, Coach Vergara thinks that they have what it takes to make it big in basketball in the future.

“Their biggest strength is in their openness for learning and training camps like this is a big motivation for them to practice more,” he says. Practice alone is not enough, a nutritious dietary habit is important for basketball players. “Basketball is a game of height where you need strong bones for the intensive activities performed; a good dietary habit will allow them to be explosive on the court. Hence, drinking milk will be beneficial for them as its protein and calcium can help to boost the body and bone growth, according to Coach Ghazi, who is in charge of players’ strength and conditioning.

For more information about “Drink. Move. Be Strong”, log on to www.dutchlady.com.my

About Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad

Incorporated in 1963, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad (Dutch Lady Malaysia) is a leading dairy company in Malaysia. It is owned by one of the largest dairy cooperative companies in the world, Royal FrieslandCampina NV, a Dutch multinational dairy company.

Dutch Lady Malaysia was the first milk company to be listed on Bursa Malaysia in 1968 and the first to introduce Formulated Milk Powder for Children in Malaysia in 1988. Dutch Lady Malaysia, awarded as the Company of the Year 2014 by The Edge Billion Ringgit Club, manufactures and sells a wide range of quality dairy products for the home and export market, with all products enjoying a strong following in brands like Dutch Lady and Friso Gold.

Through a unique collaboration between FrieslandCampina and four international research teams/universities, the South East Asian Nutrition Surveys (SEANUTS) study was commissioned to

study the nutritional status and insufficiency thereof found to be present in South East Asian children up to 12 years old.

About Royal FrieslandCampina Every day, Royal FrieslandCampina provides millions of consumers all over the world with food that is rich in valuable nutrients. With annual revenue of 11.4 billion euros, Royal FrieslandCampina is one of the world’s five largest dairy companies, supplying consumer and professional products, as well as ingredients and half-finished products to the food industry and the pharmaceutical sector around the world. Royal FrieslandCampina has offices in 28 countries and almost 22,000 employees, and its products are available in more than 100 countries. The Company is fully owned by Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A, with 19,244 member dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium—making it one of the world’s largest dairy cooperatives.

For more information please visit: www.frieslandcampina.com.