Lorain’s Martin to compete in Junior Olympic Skills nationals
Paul Heyse | The Chronicle-Telegram
Marcus “Deuce” Martin II enjoys watching cartoons. Hey, why not? He’s only 9 years old.
But he also does a lot more than watch cartoons. For one thing, the Lorain youth is a good athlete.
Because of his athletic ability, Marcus will be at the national finals Thursday-Sunday in Chicago for Junior Olympic Skills in track and field. He qualified by finishing among the top three in the country while winning his regional age group title for 8- and 9-year-olds a month ago in Euclid.
Junior Olympic Skills is a national skills competition that provides boys and girls, ages 8 to 13, the opportunity to showcase their athletic abilities in four sports — basketball, soccer, tennis and track and field.
Track and field athletes are measured in the 50-meter dash and the standing broad jump.
“Deuce’s athletic background is fairly decent for a 9-year-old,” said Marcus Martin Sr., his dad and a trainer for Phoenix Sports Performance who works mostly with kids. “Mainly, because he puts in the work. Make no mistake, he is a kid that does kid things, but he will work at whatever he decides he wants to do. He does light workouts with me a couple times a week. We do mainly conditioning, agility and coordination drills.”
The competition is intended to encourage youth participation in sports and emphasize fair and friendly play. Youngsters can participate in any or all of the sports and advance through three levels of competition, culminating with the national finals. Each sport is scored individually.
The athletes competing in Chicago this week qualified by winning their age and gender category at one of 150 regional sites, stemming from 7,500 local qualifying events across the country. They represent the event’s top 72 athletes across the country, out of more than 1.7 million competitors.
“As you can imagine, I am pretty proud of my son,” said Marcus Sr. “Deuce is kind of tall for his age (5-foot, 90 pounds). He’s very athletic and probably in better shape than many kids his age.
“We work a lot on his agility skills. I have him jump rope and run ladders. That helps with his coordination and rhythm. A lot of sports are about rhythm, especially basketball, which is his favorite sport.”
No surprise there. Marcus Sr. was a member of the 1988 Admiral King basketball team that was inducted into the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame in May.
Deuce, who will be a fourth grader at Vincent Elementary School, competed and won at the local level of the competition in May sponsored by the Elyria Parks and Recreation. Deuce also won the regional competition in basketball skills for his age group, but his overall score didn’t qualify him for nationals.
Deuce completed his first year of AAU travel basketball this spring. As a third grader, he played for the fourth-grade SMAC Rabbits. He led the team in 3-pointers made and was the team’s third-leading scorer.
He just wrapped up his first season with the Lorain Longhorns, a Lorain County Hot Stove Class H travel team. Deuce had a solid season playing center field and batting cleanup. He put one home run over the fence 200 feet away.
“That’s what is good about him,” Marcus Sr. said. “He’s just out there having fun. I try to stress that part. At the end of the day, it’s a game. Go out there and have fun.”
Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Paul Heyse | The Chronicle-Telegram July 23rd, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 6% |
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