José Armando Castillo

In addition, he was a trainer of the softball leagues of the prestigious Centro Espanol Inc. club of Santiago de los Caballeros, from 2011 to 2016.

In the 2000s he volunteered for about 5 years, together with the also renowned Dominican softball players, Arturo Fermín and Luis Vargas, for a free-of-charge softball training school in Santiago, with an offer covering also free training in San José de las Matas, Conuco (Moca), and Mao, among other.

He was a trainer of the Men´s and Women´s Softball National Teams of Colombia in 1983, for about two months, to prepare the teams for the upcoming Pan American Games that year. The Colombian Men´s Team actually managed to beat the Dominican Team in such games.

Castillo was Official Trainer of the National Softball Team from mid 1980´ to 2012, appointed by the Dominican Softball Federation and the Sports Ministry. In this position he covered several districts and provinces such as San Francisco de Macorís, Moca, La Vega, Puerto Plata, Bonao and Santo Domingo, among other.

In 1977, José Armando participated in the first tournament of Renacimiento Internacional del Sóftbol Molinete (Renaissance Fastpitch Softball Tournament), celebrated in the Dominican Republic, with the local teams Manicero, Toshiba, and Casino, a team from Puerto Rico and a team from Curaçao. Casino team where Castillo played was the winner of the tournament.

In 1974, Castillo was part of the National Team that represented the Dominican Republic in Guatemala, in an amateur tournament sponsored by the Federación Mundial de Béisbol Amateur, FEMBA, (World Federation of Amateur Baseball). Santiago province was the one representing the country in those games.

In 1973, El Mago participated as baseball pitcher in the first Central American and Caribbean Games of Second Cities in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In the same year, he also participated as pitcher in the XXI World Games for Amateur Baseball in Havana, Cuba.

The son of Ana Quisqueya Castillo and native of Villa González, José Armando worked firstly as a mechanic for the Compañía Anónima Tabacalera (tobacco industry) in Santiago de los Caballeros, from 1970 to 1999, and as a supervisor of marketing for sports events from 1990. Therefore José Armando Castillo had to alternate his passion for sports with a full-time job.

José Armando Castillo (José Armando Cipriano Castillo, born 2 April 1950 in Villa González, Dominican Republic) also known as El Mago (the magician), is a retired baseball and fastpitch softball pitcher of the Dominican Republic National Team. He has won several gold medals in softball in various Central American and Caribbean Games and has been a national trainer in softball. He has been selected as the Softball Player of the Century in the Dominican Republic as well as added to the Corridor of Athletes of Merit of Santiago by the Sports Press Association of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. In 2016, José Armando was inducted to the Hall of Fame of the Sports of Santiago.