All Nippon Airways becomes official partner of Smokey Mountain Baseball Project in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest and 5-star airline for 11 consecutive years has announced the collaboration with NB.ACADEMY (NBA) to be the official partner for the Smokey Mountain Baseball Project (SMBP) in the Philippines. 

SMBP is a project that aims to support the young athletes in the local communities, including the Tondo area, through baseball coaching clinics where the coaches are former professional baseball players of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Since 2012, approximately 3,000 youths and children have participated in the baseball clinics and more than 100 youths have been able to become scholarship players in prestigious universities such as the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University. 

"SMBP has been inspiring youth baseball players in the Philippines for over a decade and the activity is fully aligned with the ANA Group's vision of 'Uniting the World in Wonder'. Through SMBP, we look forward to creating wonder with the youth and children in the Philippines as the future leaders of the country," shared Naoaki Takayanagi, executive vice president, general manager, Asia & Oceania.

Shogo Shibata, SMBP project owner of NB.ACADEMY said, “SMBP has been ongoing since 2012 and is held jointly with the Golden Players Club. It has been loved for many years as an extremely meaningful initiative, as it provides them with a chance to interact with kids who actually live in an environment they wouldn't normally see through baseball."

"We had been facing a cost challenge, but ANA has agreed to provide full support, and we have decided to hold this year's event without incident,” he added. 

ANA commits to continue supporting initiatives that are aligned with ANA Group's vision of "Uniting the World in Wonder.” 

Editor’s Note: This is a press release from All Nippon Airways. It is published by the Advertising Content Team that is independent from our Editorial Newsroom