AT 5-foot-2, Ella Fajardo, at first glance, would rarely, if ever, be mistaken as a basketball player.
But believe it or not, this diminutive dynamo is the main point guard of the Gilas Pilipinas women’s squad set to see action in two overseas meets, starting with the 44th Jones Cup women’s tournament today at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taiwan.
“You have some advantages when you are small,” quipped Fajardo while holding the Milo-sponsored Kingdom Elite Invitational basketball cum evangelistic clinic for girls from 12 to 18 over the weekend at the CCF Sports Center in Pasig City.
“The aim of this camp is for these children to know that they are seen and heard while enjoying and learning the game of basketball,” said Fajardo, 22, who will be the court general of the PH squad that will see action in the six-nation competition in the Taiwanese capital.
Now playing in her last term as the court general of the New York-based NCAA Division 1 Iona Gaels, who compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the player disclosed that the Jones Cup will serve as the national team’s tune-up series for the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup opening on July 13 in Shenzhen, China.
A Milo-BEST product, she found the challenge of hosting a clinic of her own as “honestly unbelievable. I can’t say it’s hard, and I am thankful that I enjoy it. I see now why the Milo-BEST coaches were invested and were good at it, doing what they love.”
“We are excited and proud to support this initiative of Ella Fajardo, who is one of our champions who has a strong Milo legacy,” Milo Sports chief Carlo Sampan said. “What we like about it is that she represents the values of Milo, which is building the next generation of leaders as well.
“We are proud that she is not stopping her basketball journey and is passing it on to the next generation. So we are really proud of that.”
