Upgrade in cage technology

In 1995, Carlos Castellon made a mid-life career shift by following his heart.

Castellon is a Cuban who was one of 12,000 beneficiaries — they were called the "Peter Pan" kids — allowed to enter the US in 1961 without visas in a special under-18 program. He was 13.

Castellon went on to earn a Master’s degree in romantic languages and literature at the University of Florida where he dabbled in basketball and football. He got married to a beautiful Irishwoman Dorothy and they have three children.

After graduation, Castellon taught math and science to elementary students in deprived communities, sold pharmaceuticals and became the international sales director of a Swiss company that marketed dialysis machines.

Then, Castellon decided to get involved in an industry that has always been close to his heart — sports. He joined Porter Athletic Equipment Co. of Broadview, Illinois, in 1995.

As a boy, Castellon was addicted to sports and marveled at the exploits of Cuban boxing legends Kid Gavilan, Nino Valdes and Sugar Ramos. Football ravaged his knees in college so that put a stop to active playing. But that hasn’t stopped him from shooting hoops in his Chicago backyard and he watches sports, particularly football, on TV fanatically.

For over 10 years, Castellon built a strong overseas presence for Porter. His specialty was moving the Porter basketball systems that are found in the homecourts of at least 14 National Basketball Association (NBA) arenas, including the Staples Center of Los Angeles and the United Center of Chicago.

In the Philippines, Castellon tied up with Filipino sports equipment distributor Vic Eugenio. Their partnership blossomed into a close friendship. Eugenio’s efforts introduced Porter to a growing Philippine market. Today, the Porter systems are in place in nearly all of the country’s major basketball stadiums.

Last December, Castellon went a step further in his professional career. At 58, he was hired by the Gared group of Noblesville, Indianapolis. Now, Castellon is pushing the Gared products that Porter uses for its own basketball systems.

Castellon was in town a few days ago to introduce the Gared line to Eugenio. He considers the Philippines a major overseas market and since joining Porter, has made about 10 trips to the country. Castellon knows how popular the game is here and shares the Filipinos’ passion for it.

Castellon said that Porter was bought by a company specializing in track equipment and is slowly being turned into a catalogue seller.  Luckily, Gared offered an alternative for Castellon to continue doing what he does best in the field that he loves.

It’s clearly an upgrade for Castellon in terms of what he’s marketing and his new employer.

In the NBA, every basketball system is required to use only Gared backboards and snap-back rims. That’s why even Porter is a Gared client because its systems in NBA arenas must use Gared backboards and rims.

All Gared products are made in the US unlike Porter, making them costlier. But because Castellon and Eugenio are friends of long standing, they’ve come up with a formula unique to the Philippine market where the Gared portable courts will be less expensive. A Porter hydraulic and electric system — such as what is in the Capiz Coliseum, Ynares Center, Makati Coliseum, Cuneta Astrodome and PhilSports Arena — sells $32,000 a pair. A Gared pair will go for $30,000.

The features of a Gared system include a uniframe aluminum board (a one-piece, unbolted frame) and an NBA-approved snap-back rim that guarantees a shake time of only one second. In contrast, the Porter system uses only an aluminum outer frame and its rim has a shake factor of about three seconds.

Castellon said the FIBA (Federation Internationale de Basketball) norm is a maximum shake time of 3.5 seconds from the ball making contact with any part of the backboard, including the rim. A leading German brand, for instance, is known to have a shake factor of six seconCastellon said the Gared system is equipped with a decreasing trapezoidal extension arm that provides stability for the backboard. The arm is made of steel and was cut by a laser machine and welded together.

"While other boards are still bouncing after a shot, the Gared system is standing still and ready for another shot," said Castellon.

Gared isn’t only into basketball portables.  It also has wall-mounted and ceiling-suspended back-stops. Accessories include the most widely-used basketball scorebook available, ball racks and training aids like the shotmaker ball return (speeding up free throw drills by returning all converted balls directly to the shooter), practice rings (10 1/2-inch and 17-inch diameters), playmaker tossback (a netted stand) and an adjustable device for developing rebounding skills to improve balance, timing, coordination, vertical leap and stamina.

Castellon said Gared’s product line includes referee stands, training equipment for volleyball, benches, bleachers and court systems for volleyball (indoor and outdoor), badminton, tennis and soccer.

Eugenio said the Gared systems will be used in the Batangas City coliseum and the Panabo (Davao del Norte) stadium, both opening in March.

Castellon said Gared began operations 85 years ago and is an established leader in the industry with a manufacturing plant of about 100 workers. His idea is to eventually subcontract the work to Asian countries where labor costs are not as high.

"This is the kind of work I love," said Castellon. "My involvement in sports has given me the chance to meet some of my all-time heroes like Herschel Walker, Michael Jordan and Evander Holyfield. My job is to introduce the market to athletic equipment that is truly top-class and as a sports lover, I can do no less."

Eugenio organized a new company ViCarl Technology System to take care of the Gared products and a new electronic messaging system tied up with the US brand ADT or Advanced Technology.

"We can do package deals where we install a Gared basketball system, an ADT messaging board, a FairPlay electronic scoreboard and a Robbins maplewood court," said Eugenio, an entrepreneur who started out as a salesman for Sehwani Marketing and Noritake before forming his own company to distribute branded athletic equipment in 1991.

What Castellon and Eugenio did for Porter in the Philippines, they hope to do for Gared.

Postscript: Eugenio may be contacted at tels. 807-1427 and 807-6696 or cells 0917-6611087 or 0915-8513665 or by email [email protected].