Name: Kim Martinez

Sport: Soccer

Year: Freshman

Hometown: Bolingbrook

High School: Bolingbrook High School. 

Lily Goodfellow: When did you start playing soccer?

Kim Martinez: When I was seven, I started playing for the park district. I played [park district soccer] until I was about ten years old. My travel coach was at one of my games and kind of scouted me. So he brought me onto the travel team, and I stayed with his team at the Bolingbrook Raiders until last year. I played in high school too.

LG: What position do you play?

KM: I’m an outside winger, usually on the left. 

LG: How does being an athlete make you a better person, and what keeps you motivated?

KM: What keeps me motivated is I want to succeed in life. I think soccer has brought a lot of the skills I have today. I feel like I’m a very determined person, and I also know how to work well with people because of soccer. So it has brought me some good life skills. 

LG: Who are your role models in women’s soccer?

KM: The one you probably hear about most often is Alex Morgan. For women’s soccer, she’s my idol. She started as a regular soccer player and because of her hard work she was recognized, and now she is who she is. She’s well-known and a good player and still improving her soccer skills. 

LG: What is the biggest disappointment you’ve ever had to face in soccer?

KM: Soccer can’t be a one-person game. Everyone has to work together to win and succeed. One person can’t want it more than others. I’ve been in situations where people want it more than others and other teammates don’t, so they give up easily. So you know you could win, and you know other players can do better too because you’ve seen how they’ve played before, but they just give up and they get upset and you end up losing games.

LG: What is your proudest moment?

KM: In high school, on senior night, I scored the only goal and we won. It was a season where I kind of struggled with a new position. I used to play defense, the outside back. And then they [the coaches] moved me to striker, which is a big move. I struggled the whole season to get accustomed to that. And I was getting bashed by others saying I don’t shoot or score. Then it happened on senior night. It was my second goal of the whole season and it was the only goal that night. That same day I told my team, “We’ve got to shoot more. I can’t shoot. I don’t know why you guys are putting me up there.” And then I scored a goal.

LG: What is your favorite part of playing for COD?

KM: My favorite part is the friendships I’ve made and how comfortable I feel. If you feel comfortable with the people you’re with, you’re going to play better. And this is the first team where I’ve actually gotten along with everyone on the team.

LG: What is your favorite class right now?

KM: My favorite class is probably psychology. I have 100% in that class right now, which is good.

LG: What do you want to study and what are your plans after COD?

KM: I’m going to major in biology, and I’m looking to transfer through a scholarship. I want to be a physician’s assistant. 

LG: What are some of your favorite hobbies?

KM: I actually like drawing. I don’t think anyone knows that. I can look at any picture in black and white and copy it almost exactly. I won an award for that in high school.

LG: What one word best describes you?

KM: I feel like ‘determined’ describes me. I try to do everything I can with work, school and soccer and balance everything out. I feel like it gets hard and it’d be easy to give up when you have all that going on, but I want to be successful, and I’m determined to get there. 

LG: Thank you, Kim!

KM: No problem. I hope I did okay.