Mr. Martinez has helped shape many students in the classroom and on the field. Mr. Martinez is a religion teacher here at Cathedral and is now also the head coach of the boys’ soccer team.

Mr. Martinez has been playing soccer since he can remember. He shared, “I started playing soccer when I was three years old.” He continued to play soccer throughout his high school career, playing for the school and participating on a club team. Once he got to college he decided to play American football instead but still continued to play soccer outside of school for a club team.

Mr. Martinez started his coaching journey about ten years ago. He wanted to stay involved in the sport and saw that coaching was the best way to do that. He had been involved with helping youth groups in the past which helped lead him to coaching youth and later becoming a teacher. He wanted to help shape young just as his coaches had done for him saying, “I just had a lot of great mentors, great coaches, and it’s really fun.”

Mr. Martinez has made it a point to incorporate faith into his coaching and help his players grow in their faith. He has the soccer team go to morning mass every week as a team and they also go to mass before every home game. They also pray before every game and during every halftime. Incorporating faith is especially important to Mr. Martinez. He says, “It’s definitely a big part of our identity as a team.”

It’s important to Mr. Martinez to create a coaching environment where everyone feels empowered and encouraged. He says, “I want to provide an environment where people feel empowered.” He also feels that it is important to create a fun environment where everyone wants to be there and wants to improve. He says that if you have an environment where people want to be there that’s when players actually improve. John Lynch a junior here at Cathedral and a player on the Boys’ Varsity team says, “Coach Martinez has been building a culture here at Cathedral.”

When players are feeling down it is really important to Mr. Martinez to help create a safe environment for players and always be there for them as someone who can listen. He stays positive when he can tell that a player is feeling down and helps them get back to a positive mindset.

On the field Mr. Martinez expects players to be the best versions of themselves. This includes keeping their mentality in the game by not arguing with refs or other players. He also expects them to keep a good team environment for everyone by always being kind to each other. Off the field, he expects them to be studious and respectful and always try to keep a healthy balance between school and soccer. He says, “We are working toward becoming the best versions of ourselves and however that manifests is important to me.”

Mr. Martinez hopes to help players build skills that can last a lifetime. He teaches them good discipline and says, “I think if you’re disciplined, you show up to practice on time, wearing the right things, working on the right things, then I think you’re probably someone in life who, for high school students, you’re probably someone who does their homework, turns things in on time, and those kinds of things begin to, once you start building those habits and that personal discipline, those are things that are gonna serve you in life, in college, and then in your career.”

It is important to Mr. Martinez to teach these habits now and build players with good discipline and punctuality.

Lynch also said, “Coach Martinez has changed how I look at the game completely and showed me the tactical aspect as well as the mental aspect.”

Mr. Martinez is helping to shape players on and off the field by helping them make good habits and good choices. He helps them learn what it means to be a Catholic athlete and how to incorporate faith with sports.