LA CENTER — Seemingly each member of the La Heart softball crew has a private connection to teach Randy Martinez.
Senior Sadie Schmidt and freshman Aimee England, as an example, each have older siblings who performed on softball groups coached by Martinez.
Senior Billie Ross represents a 3rd technology in her household being on the identical La Heart crew with Martinez. Her father and grandfather coached soccer with him.
All that’s to say, when Martinez returned for his second stint as La Heart’s head coach this season, there was nobody higher suited to guide the Wildcats softball crew. He’s labored with this present group of gamers since 2023 as a volunteer assistant in this system, and needed to see them via to the tip of their highschool careers.
“Seeing him come back, I think it brought the whole team together, genuinely, because we all really love him as a coach,” Schmidt mentioned. “… I think everyone was excited and motivated to work really hard this year.”
This spring additionally coincided with one other transfer for Martinez when the La Heart soccer crew introduced in March he can be retiring as an assistant coach, a place he held for 26 years with this system below head coach John Lambert.
“Words can’t adequately express the gratitude I have for what he has done for the youth of La Center,” Lambert wrote on the crew’s Fb web page. “The relationships and connections that Randy made will always be part of this town.”
Martinez mentioned he’d been mulling retiring for just a few years with the intention to liberate extra time to spend with household in the summertime and fall, however acknowledged it was a tough resolution.
“This year when I finally told (John) for sure, I remember his first reaction was like, ‘I thought you’d go one more year,’ ” Martinez mentioned with fun. “However I felt assured that he’s going to be dealing with a whole lot of the road now. … He was a lineman, he’s good at it, most likely higher than I’m at teaching it. That was fairly simple as soon as I knew he was taking that over.
“I’ll come to the games, probably hit the sidelines, things like that. But yeah, I’m gonna miss it, especially the kids that I’ve coached for the last few years.”
Recognizing when it’s the appropriate time to depart a program is one thing coaches typically grapple with. Two years after La Heart received the Class 1A state championship, Martinez’s departure because the Wildcats’ coach following the 2018 season was truly a reasonably simple selection as a result of it allowed him to teach his twin granddaughters in ASA softball.
Nonetheless, he remained related to this system. After watching a recreation three years in the past, he approached then-coach Amanda Teel and shared some observations he felt might enhance the crew. Teel later requested Martinez to hitch the crew for winter exercises, which led to him teaching as a volunteer assistant throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
That familiarity between Martinez and gamers made for a seamless transition when the place opened and he was formally employed as head coach in December.
“It’s intense (and) a lot of fun,” Martinez mentioned. “I just enjoy softball a lot. These girls I’ve coached the last few years, I wanted to make sure I got through their senior year, and then keep going.”
The Wildcats have solely performed three video games this season getting into spring break, splitting video games towards Trico League opponents Seton Catholic and King’s Means Christian, however spirits are excessive amongst gamers who reward Martinez’s optimistic strategy to educating throughout video games and practices.
“If you do bad, you mess up, you strike out, he’s always there to pick you up,” mentioned junior Lauren Baker, who’s dedicated to Wagner School in New York. “He’s always giving you a helpful note on how to fix it, how to get better. So, he’s all about positivity and not getting down on yourself.”
“He makes practices fun, but also functional,” Schmidt added. “They’re also just so entertaining. We laugh, we also get jobs done — there’s times for seriousness and there’s times for locking in — and we have a perfect balance of both, I feel like.”
One other piece Martinez brings to the crew, in accordance with Ross, is his eye-catching wardrobe decisions.
“He wears really funny socks every day,” the senior pitcher and infielder mentioned. “It really keeps us on our toes and gives us a good chuckle.”
Martinez additionally wears his 2016 La Heart state championship ring on his proper hand, a reminder of a particular crew that went 27-0 en path to capturing the 1A title over Montesano.
Playoff runs like 2016 and 2017, this system’s most up-to-date journey to state, are a rewarding a part of the sport. Finally, nonetheless, they’re a small a part of the general influence Martinez strives to make as a coach in his gamers’ lives.
“Your coaching goals should be, I want to make these girls better women, so when they grow up they have better attitudes, views of life, maybe they’ll learn some life lessons here. And, by doing that, they’ll improve in softball,” he mentioned.
“It’s all about seeing how they develop as people, and ballplayers usually fall right behind that.”
From the earliest levels of their highschool careers to now, La Heart gamers are grateful Martinez has been there to assist them develop.
“He’s just an awesome coach,” Baker mentioned, “and I’m really glad he came back to help our team, because I don’t know what we would’ve done if we didn’t have him.”
