By now, just about every Kings County resident knows Isaiah’s story, about a guy who won three California state wrestling titles and two straight NCAA championships – all in a row, including his latest crown, earned just last spring when he beat a talented Penn State wrestler, Jason Nolf, for the national title in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Martinez’s only collegiate loss in two years was to Nolf in the Big 10 finals. But Martinez beat his rival when it counted the most. And now, he’s earned some time off.
Because of his demanding schedule, including a rigorous training regime that he fits in between his University of Illinois classes, the easy thing to do with his week off in Lemoore would be take it easy, maybe sit back, visit the nearest Starbucks and watch his wrestling buddies take on the world in the Rio Olympics.
Not Martinez. The dedicated wrestler, perhaps the best ever come from the Valley, spent much of his weekend with about 100 youngsters, boys and girls, in a pair of workshops at the Cinnamon Recreational Complex.
Who knows, perhaps one or two of those would-be wrestlers might learn a hold, a move, a trick that may, at some point in the future, win him or her a championship – just like Martinez. And all because Martinez decided to spend his days off with a bunch of Lemoore kids who idolize him.
All it took was a phone call from his old high school coach, Marcio Botelho, to convince him that he was wanted – and needed. “Marcio asked me when I was going to be back in town,” said Martinez. “I hadn’t been home for about nine months because of training, and school, and other things. And as soon as I figured out when to come back, he asked me if I was going to be available to help out some kids. He told me he wants to do this for multiple years, and that’s fine with me.”
The kids who showed up Saturday and Sunday were truly appreciative. “It means a lot,” said Lemoore High School wrestler Jacob Gonsalves, just one of the 100 athletes or so that attended the weekend workshops. “I mean he still has sight of where he comes from, and he comes back to his home town. He still remembers where he’s from, and it’s great that he comes back to help us get better.”
Martinez is a natural and fits in well with his eager pupils. He is a solid, instructor, teacher, and coach – his long-term goal – once all the titles are won and the medals collected. “That’s my dream job, to be a college wrestling coach someday,” he said. “But first there are a lot of things I have to do as far as an individual athlete. I want to win another national championship… and then follow it up with yet another national championship.”
The worst thing he could do, he said, is to expect it to be easy. “The biggest thing I learned this year was that just because you win it once, they just don’t hand it off to you.”
He’s focusing on one year at a time. There is plenty of room in his life’s plan to go that international Olympic route for 2020 in Tokyo. “Hopefully everything will go well and I will stay healthy, and I’ll follow that path.”
While he opted out this year – too much school and training – he did sneak in some time to visit the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs recently, spending some valuable time with his wrestling buddies, many of whom are in Rio de Janeiro this week. “I was out there training with those guys before they went to Rio. For me it’s all part of the process – just familiarizing myself with Team USA and just being around them so I can make the transition as easily as possible.”
He definitely intends to watch the Olympics. He knows just about all the U.S. wrestlers, and maybe, just maybe, Lemoore, four years from now, will be cheering their home-town boy in Tokyo.