UA Pitcher Takes Her Game Overseas
Monday, 26 April 2010 21:14
Jennifer Martinez is used to traveling, to say the least.
Last May, she fulfilled her lifelong dream of pitching in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla. for The University of Arizona’s softball team. She hails from La Habra, Calif. and had to sit out the 2008 season due to the NCAA’s transfer rule after previously playing ball at California State University, Long Beach and California State University, Dominguez Hills. But her most recent road trip spanned some 6,000 miles; every mile traveled was for the game she loves.
In her second of a five-month stint away from the United States, Martinez is playing professional softball for Unione Fermana based in Porto Sant’Elpidio, Italy. In the first month, she had to acclimate herself to an entirely new lifestyle while at the same time preparing for the rigors of another softball season.
“I cannot believe how fast the first month already flew by,” said Martinez. “Italy is amazing; the culture is great, the lifestyle here is so carefree. I love it here.”
Coming from an Arizona program that has won eight NCAA National Championships, the level of play in Italy was “such a big difference” to Martinez.
“Here in Italy, softball is simply a hobby,” she said. “Losing and winning are not as big a deal like it is in the States.”
Martinez, who touted an 11-4 record with 100 strikeouts in her senior year at Arizona, has a daily routine that consists of going to the gym and participating in team practice, simple for a professional softball player. It was her adjustment to the Italian lifestyle, though, that was anything but simple.
“When I first arrived, most of the Italians looked at me and were very rude,” said Martinez. “I was the foreigner and it was written all over my face. It was and still is very uncomfortable to see people look at me and make judgments because I am American.
“But the girls on my team are very sweet and they have learned to communicate with me very well.”
Martinez found that she is beginning to pick up the Italian language.
“It took me about three weeks to know enough Italian to get by alone,” she said. “In the market and in the restaurants, I am able to speak it fluently because it is very similar to Spanish, which is a language that I know very well.”
Italian food is something that Martinez is getting used to, and she even mentioned that there are pizza places on nearly every corner where there would be a McDonalds in the United States.
“The food over here is amazing,” she said. “Pasta is practically eaten at every meal, even breakfast. It’s basically a ton of carbs that people don’t eat as much of in the States.
“I want to say about 75 percent of the people here are so skinny! How people eat that many carbs and remain skinny is a mystery.”
As one could imagine, though, Martinez misses her home country and everything that comes with it.
“You really don’t know how much you appreciate the everyday amenities until you are outside of the country,” Martinez said. “I miss ESPN, because I have to watch American sports on the Internet.
“I miss normal American food and I miss my family, friends and boyfriend of course. I miss the everyday American things that I took for granted when I was in the states.”
Martinez will return to the U.S. on August 10, with a full season of professional softball, new friends and new experiences from across the world under her belt.
Porto Sant'Elpidio, Italy
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Written by Mateo Lorenzo Alvarez
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