Martinez not giving up on studies

Soft-spoken Michael Martinez, the 17-year-old wunderkind who mesmerized the country by figure skating to a high level of performance at the Winter Olympics in Sochi this year, is sacrificing his education to focus on preparing for Pyeongchang in 2018. But Martinez isn’t giving up on someday going back to school.

At the moment, Martinez said he wants to take up photography as an alternative field of interest when not training or competing on ice. His dream is to win a medal for the country at the next Winter Olympics and he’s got a four-year timetable to make it come true. After the Pyeongchang Games, Martinez said he’ll pursue a degree in sports medicine.

Martinez and his mother Maria Teresa were supposed to leave Manila for Los Angeles last Monday but their trip was postponed to tomorrow. Martinez got busy doing shoots for SM. Last week, SM signed Martinez to a four-year contract extension. Martinez’ original deal with SM was an agency contract that was inked last year. It was supposed to run for 1 1/2 years and Martinez’ fee was P1 Million for an all-exclusive endorsement. In the extension, SM agreed to cover Martinez’ training and competition expenses of P9 Million a year and allowed him to endorse products not in competition with any SM brand.

“We’re very grateful to Mr. Hans Sy,” said Martinez’ mother. “To be honest, Mr. Sy wasn’t advised on the terms of our first contract by the agency. It was Mr. Sy himself who instructed his staff to prepare the extension. We owe a lot to SM and Mr. Sy.”

Martinez’ mother, a single parent, has taken charge of steering her son’s future. She mortgaged the family home in Muntinlupa to raise funds for his training when support was scarce in preparing for Sochi. She even advanced the payment for their plane tickets to Sochi. Martinez was the only Filipino competitor at the Winter Olympics yet couldn’t get the financial assistance to even pay for his plane ticket. Reimbursement of the two plane tickets, amounting to $3,500, remains pending.

“We’ve been assured that the reimbursement is coming,” said Martinez’ mother. “We know there are other priorities. But we’ve got to keep moving. Michael has never received an allowance from the PSC since he began to represent our country in 2009. He has no training expense and no medical benefits.”

Martinez’ mother said she and her son share a bedroom in a friend’s apartment at Anaheim. It’s a modest way of life, almost Spartan. But with no financial support available, they’ve had to sacrifice. Martinez’ mother said neither she nor her son can sleep in the living room of the apartment because it’s against the law. Luckily, there are Filipinos in Anaheim who know of their plight and galvanize support for Martinez’ Olympic quest. One Fil-Am friend raises funds through zumba events in Carson City.

“Everybody pitches in and every amount counts, no matter how small,” said Martinez’ mother. “In Sochi, we were lucky that Michael’s Russian coach Viktor (Kudriavtsev) agreed to be paid his fee late. Seven hours before Michael stepped on the ice to perform, the POC remitted Viktor’s fee of $7,200 directly to him. The PSC also took care of Michael’s per diem of $50 a day. The MVP Sports Foundation found out about our situation and within five days, sent over P500,000. Then, after the Olympics, Mr. (Manny V.) Pangilinan gave Michael a bonus of $10,000. So many others contributed to pay for our expenses. Muntinlupa Mayor (Jaime) Fresnedi gave P100,000 from the city treasury and after Michael won the Triglav Cup in Slovenia last April, P250,000 from the city council.”

Martinez’ mother has three children. A daughter Angel was a scholar at Colorado College and spent a year at the London School of Economics before earning her degree. She now lives in California. A son Paul takes care of the family’s farming business. He buys vegetables, primarily okra, from farmers in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, and exports the produce.

Martinez plans to compete in at least six meets a year and the budget for each event is $9,000. The costs include ice time and coaching fees of $100 to $130 an hour. Martinez’ coaches in the US are John Nicks, 86, and Ilya Kulik, 32. Another major expense is the choreographer’s fee of $5,000 to $10,000 for a 2 minute and 50 second program. That’s the rate for a US choreographer. In Europe, the rate is $10,000 to $15,000 a program.

Now that Martinez is ranked No. 27 in the world, he’s been noticed by the International Skating Union as a serious championship contender. In the six-leg invitational Grand Prix series, Martinez was invited to compete in the first edition in Illinois in October. Only 17 countries were invited to participate and the first leg will feature 12 competitors. The winners of each leg will advance to vie for the championship in the finals in December.

Martinez said the figure skating season runs from August to April and the main events in the calendar are the Grand Prix and the Four Continents and World Championships. What’s in Martinez’ sights is the 2017 World Championships where the top 24 skaters will be invited to compete in February in Helsinki. The top six will then skate off in September that year preparatory to the selection of qualifiers for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The Philippine Star recently contributed P200,000 for Martinez’ war chest. He went to The Star office with his mother to express his thanks to Star president/CEO Miguel Belmonte. Martinez is a symbol of a Filipino athlete with the talent to excel in the world but badly needs support to scale the heights of stardom. He received overwhelming recognition after coming home from Sochi.