Sonny Martinez is a soft-spoken guy with an easy smile, but don’t let that fool you—he’s one of the best wrestlers in the area. The Pioneer Valley junior is 37-1 this year.
Martinez knew from early on that he wanted to get into sports. So early, in fact, that “wrestling was the only sport that would take such a young kid.”
He was 4.
“Pretty much right away I knew this was for me,” he said. “What the coaches would tell me would just come naturally.”
Martinez is currently in the 137-pound weight bracket and plans to be down into the next lowest class in time for the upcoming league matches. What’s his trick to managing his weight?
“I cut out all junk food and soda, stuff I don’t really need,” he explained. “That, and I run 4 miles four or five times a week.”
Coach Ryan Newman, one of Martinez’s coaches at Pioneer Valley, is pleased with the wrestler’s progress and expects to see more great things out of him next year.
“He’s a very dedicated wrestler—just a good kid,” Neuman said.
Martinez is a Christian and says his faith plays an important role in what he does on the mat: “When I’m out there, I’m not just wrestling for myself, but for God and Jesus.”
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 5, 2009.