Saige Martinez '25 Recruiting Profile

I spent almost 12 years of my life playing basketball, and I spent many years in a league or playing for a club. If you were to ask me when I was seven who I wanted to be in the future, my answer would be similar to most." I want to play basketball in college and make it to the WNBA." now I am a senior in high school. I still may not know what I want entirely for my future, but I better understand myself. I have had amazing coaches and also not so amazing ones. In the last few years, basketball has not been the same as when I was 8, and I had been begging my Mom to get me new basketball shoes.

My feelings for basketball shifted after I admitted I had lost confidence from an experience with a specific coach. It was my first tournament with this coach. I had been playing with this club for three years, so I was excited about the upcoming tournament because I knew we could do well if we worked together. The same players were being played the whole game during the first game. In our team with little to no subs, it was made even more clear who was not getting play time. I never considered it unfair; however, I took it as I needed to improve myself. When I finally got into the game, it was the third quarter, and in the first 10 seconds I was in, I scored. I made two assists, keeping us in the lead. I believed I finally showed I deserved to play, but I was wrong. The coach took me out of the game a couple of seconds later, and I did not go back in for the rest of the game. I constantly reflected on how I played after each game in the tournament. My Mom always reminded me to play my game throughout the tournament. I began focusing on making every chance of playtime worth it because, in that same tournament, I did not play the entire game.

I eventually left the club a few months after that coach, and the years to follow were 2020, when I did not know when I would be playing again, whether in a league or at the park with my friends, besides the challenges of admitting that the coaching I experienced in that club affected my confidence. I had to overcome my experience with my high school coach, who was similar to my club coach. I was still determining if I would be playing my senior year due to my situation with my high school coach, but this year, we have a whole new set of coaches. I still build on my confidence every day; I work on giving myself more opportunities to score and making myself available to my teammates. I have also created better habits off the court; I make healthier decisions, develop a routine, and plan to be consistent with my grades and work.  

"Move Forward" is a saying I told myself when I was injured during my freshman season and didn't miss a game. It is significant to how I plan to overcome any setback in life I will come across. Allowing myself to move forward, I have reflected and learned to build confidence on and off the court. Playing basketball has made, in many ways, an impact on my life, and I would not trade it for anything else.