Something Calvin never dreamed of
WHEN he was in his younger and struggling days in basketball, Calvin Abueva was so happy just to be able to buy any pair of shoes he can wear to play the game.
More so that his shoe size is big that it was not readily available locally and he had to ask people coming from abroad to help him get the sIze he needed.
That was in the past though. Fast forward to the present, August 17 to be exact , and Calvin still in awe with the fact that he now has his own signature basketball shoes with his signature of course and colored white and blue, the latter his favorite color.
I was at the One Ayala branch of Peak Sports that afternoon upon the invitation of owner Michael Chenglay whom I met a few months ago when I was in Xiamen, China with PSC Commissioner Fritz Gaston and the Filipino Chinese Amateur Athletic Federation (FCAAF).
Calvin is one of the current endorsers of this shoe brand that has made its mark internationally and locally.
The first one a few years back was Terrence Romeo, at present, the others are Arwind Santos, Robert Bolick, Jio Jalalon, Rey Nambatac, and Juami Tiongson, the last two joined the launching of Calvin’s shoes that day.
Together with a few media people, though I only knew Gerry Ramos, we were given a short interview time with Calvin and that was my first question to him, if he ever thought this day would happen in his life.
And his reply was never. That was why he was so happy about it, more so that he can use these special shoes in the remaining years of his playing career, looking at maybe three years more before finally hanging up his shoes.
Though with sons, I am sure basketball in his family will not end when Calvin retires.
After the interview, we went down to the second floor of the mall where the official launching was to be held at the open area. THere was already a select group of fans in a roped off area in front of the small stage, these were the people who had bought Peak Sports items, especially those who bought already Calvin’s shoes priced at P5K.
At the back of the waiting area was a sale of the brand’s products and according to Michael, his estimate is that around a hundred pairs of Calvin’s shoes had been sold already.
The emcee hosted some fun games for the fans with the three PBA players interacting with them, something that I mentioned to Michael that the PBA needed to do, that is, have its players reconnect with their fans .
In his talk, Calvin reiterated his feelings upon learning then about his own signature shoes that took six months to design, but was worth the waiting, the shoes really look good, especially on my feet as Michael gifted me with my own pair of Calvin’s The Beast shoes.
Last part of the program was Calvin’s signing of autographs with most fans bringing shoes they just bought or playing jerseys of Calvin.
But then it was not the end of the story yet.
As Calvin left the area to go up to the Peak Sports store, a Person With Disability( PWD), approached him for a photo opportunity, and Calvin was touched by the fact that he was recognized by the PWD.
And before you know it, he was already taking off his brand new pair of The Beast shoes and just gave them to the PWD whose eyes mirrored the joy he felt at the privilege.I know because I was right there when it actually happened, it was so fast that I even failed to get a picture of Calvin with the PWD.
Good thing Michael was able to send me a picture of that and I used it for my on line stories I uploaded on Face Book after.
Then Calvin went up the escalator with out shoes and simply walked back to the store to put on the shoes he was wearing when he first arrived.
With that act of kindness, I will find it hard to look at Calvin and see him as a beast, the best, maybe.
By the way, I asked all the 3 PBA players present what they thought of the newly introduced four-point shot in the league, and all of them said given the opportunity, they will make use of it.
However, Meralco’s Chris Banchero beat them to the punch as he made history by being the very first PBA player to score from the fpur-point area as Meralco beat Calvin’s team, Magnolia , 99-94 at the opening last Sunday.
Me, sorry, I am a traditionalist and purist maybe about basketball, so I am not sold on this innovation. In fact I was smiling when I was reading all the other ideas posted by fans about other new point making shots in a game.
And after all, every one is entitled to his own opinion, right?