Josh Moncada is a right-back defender on the Springfield Catholic High School soccer team, and as he heads into his senior year, he’s on the lookout for scholarships to help pay for college.
He’s hoping a school will discover him through
www.bestathletesociety.com, an online database launched July 2.
“My dad heard about the Web site and told me it might be a good way to get college exposure,” Moncada said.
The site is the brainchild of Gerry Catapang, a Springfield physical therapist and owner of Physical Therapy Care, Manual Physical Therapy & Industrial Rehab Center PC.
Catapang said he created the site to recognize athletes’ accomplishments and help them realize their ambitions.
“I’ve practiced physical therapy for 21 years, and I see a lot of athletes,” he said. “I was inspired by their stories that they want to be recognized and discovered.”
There are four categories on the site, with the first for athletic directors, teams and coaches. Others are for athletes seeking scholarships; athletes who want to become coaches; and athletes who want to step up to the amateur or professional levels.
The goal, Catapang said, is to connect people in the first category with players in the other three.
The Web site is set up as a for-profit business under another Catapang company, The Ragpicker Advertising and Publishing Co. LLC, through which he produces and promotes exercise videos.
Eventually, he expects revenues for the Web site to come through advertising and apparel sales, but he said it won’t come from the athletes who sign on and post their biographies, statistics and photos.
“Other databases exist for athletes, but they cost money to sign up,” Catapang said. “There’s no charge for athletic directors to access the Web site, or athletes to join, and I hope they will see the good intentions in that.”
Don Weber, a maintenance employee at Springfield Golf and Country Club, has dreamed for a decade of playing professional golf. He hopes his biographical information on the site will help him secure sponsorships for qualifying play in events such as the Price Cutter Charity Championship or for other regional tournaments that can help him boost his skills – and his scores – on the green.
“I think this is a great idea. Many people don’t have the support to get into events like that, and maybe this venue will connect amateur players with the right people,” Weber said. “The more higher-level tournaments you play in, it just increases skills and confidence and improves your game.”
Catapang said he plans to send e-mails and make telephone calls to coaches, athletic directors and teams to generate interest in the athletes on the site.
“We’ve just been focused on setting up the site, and now we’re focused on promoting it,” he said.
Catapang said he’s invested about $15,000 in the site, most of which was for Web site developers in his native Philippines, and for legal fees related to creating logos for apparel that will be sold on the site. He said he doesn’t have employees specifically for the site, but his teenage children have been helping with it.
Lance Kettering, executive director of the Greater Springfield Area Sports Commission, was unaware of Catapang’s site, but he said the concept sounds like a good idea for athletes.
“Anytime you can get athletes and peers in touch with each other, in concept, it is a good idea,” Kettering said, comparing the connections to those made by businesspeople through networking groups such as the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.
Once the Web site is up and running, Catapang said he hopes to turn it into a nonprofit.
Already, the site is built to create support for Special Olympics or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which provided treatment to one of his four children who is a cancer survivor.
In exchange for any size donation to either group, Catapang said, athletes would have the opportunity to be featured on the site’s home page. And once he establishes a revenue stream for the site, Catapang said he’ll donate 10 percent of the profits to each of the two charities.
“The most challenging part right now is getting the word out and promoting the site,” he said. “We are just getting started.”[[In-content Ad]]
