WHILE the well-acclaimed Milo sports clinics have been the fertile ground to nurture top athletes such as world champion gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo and multi-titled taekwondo jin Japoy Lizardo, some have used the lessons learned from them in excelling in their respective careers.
Dr. Micco Sollano and Atty. Madeline Mina credited the discipline, hard work and experience in the Milo programs of basketball and gymnastics, respectively, as among the key factors that helped them to become “champions” in their chosen professions.
“I was in grade school when my mom enrolled me in the Milo BEST Center program,” recalled Sollano, who used the lessons from the clinics founded by the late UP and national coach Nic Jorge as the foundation for a fruitful varsity career with Ateneo and La Salle in the UAAP.
“Sports is a great teacher. I learned about discipline and teamwork. I also gained confidence to face challenges on and off the court,” said the doctor, a COVID-19 survivor and the first medical frontliner recorded to have contracted the dangerous disease in early 2020.
“I was the first medical frontliner to test positive for COVID-19. I knew in my heart that I needed to fight because that is how Milo nurtured me,” said Sollano, a doctor at the Philippine General Hospital.
A San Beda Alabang Law School graduate, Mina remembers her father enrolling her when she was 10 at the Milo artistic gymnastics program at Club Gymnastica, the club founded by Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Bea Lucero and where Yulo also trained for a while.
“Hindi siya basta-basta. You have to go through the process of training for a particular skill.
Because in progressive trainings, especially for gymnastics, everything will get harder and more complex,” said Mina, who considers the floor exercise and vault as her pet events.
In the end, the lawyer, who passed the bar in 2015, said she had to give up her Olympic dreams but found a new outlet for gymnastics talent: cheerleading at the high school and college level.
