In this episode, Podcaster Carlos Alcala interviews student-athlete Samantha Martinez on training during the off-season.

Available on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Music @TheRunnerOnAir

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, Hello, welcome runners to the runners on air the offseason. My name is CJ Callen. Today I’m chatting with Samantha Martinez. She’s a redshirt junior infielder for CSUB. women’s softball team. So, thank you, Samantha, thank you for sitting down and talking with me this morning. Really appreciate it. So, as you already know, the term for athletes in college and even in high school, it’s student-athlete. So, I’m going to ask you some questions on the education side first. So that being said, looking at your bio from GO RUNNERS, I found that you went the JUCO route. So how was that experience for you?

Um, yeah, I definitely went the JUCO route. I felt like it helped me grow as a person and get a little bit more confident in my game as well as my academics. Looking back at it now, I think that’s the best option I could have chosen for myself. And I’m glad that I went that route.

So, what school did you end up going to?

I went to college of sequoias in Visalia,

When you finished was it two years in JUCO?

Yes.

Alright. So, when you finished your two years in JUCO, did you have any other options? Or was CSUB your only option?

Yeah, other options. But since I grew up in Kern County, I wanted to come back to CSUB. And you know, just get the fan support and like my family will be able to watch me and I really liked the program. And I liked the coaching staff, and it was aligned with what I was looking for. So yeah,

Cool. All right, good. So that being said, what are you majoring in here at CSUB?

So, when I came, I majored so I graduated this past spring, right? And sociology and a concentration in Human Services. I am now my first year of the educational school counseling program, getting my masters. So yeah.

So, how’s that going? Because, like, I mean, I’m in the education route, too. I’m an English major. So, I know, I wanted to be the teacher that I had when I was growing up. I had really good teachers. The thing is I never had a really good counselor. So how is that going for you?

Yeah, I mean, I think that’s a common theme for everyone. Definitely, for me, coming from a low-income area, I didn’t have enough resources for good counseling. So, I definitely want to give back and be the counselor that I wish I had. That’s my biggest motivation for wanting to get into this program.

Oh, that’s great. I really, really love that. So, your plan with your degree is to be a school counselor? Is that what you want to do?

Yes, I want to be a school counselor for a couple years and then get my credential in administration and become an administrator on campus. That’s my plan.

Great. Do you have like a, it’s a junior high middle school or high school? Where do you want to be at?

Ideally, I would like to be high school.

Ideally. Cool. Any high schools here or in Bakersfield? Or do you want to move?

Um, right now? I don’t know. I guess we’ll see.

Yeah. So, we’ll get there when you get there.

Right.

Yeah. So, since you already graduated, what has your process been like in the classroom? And then do you have any study tips that can help any incoming freshmen or other students here at CSUB?

Since I graduated, I would say, groundwork is a lot less work. Obviously, it’s worth more. But I just think the study tips are just you know, prioritizing your time getting a plan of staying organized. And just getting ahead. I think that’s a big factor that I used when I was in school. So, for undergrad, so yeah, just getting ahead and prioritize your time.

All right, so making sure you’re just staying on top of syllabus and everything like that.

Yes.

Okay. Gotcha. All right. So other than the counseling that you want to do, what are some of the goals off the field that you want to do?

Um, some personal goals. You said, so I’m sorry, you said off the field or on the field?

off the field. So, like, after your sports, after everything.

After everything, I don’t know. I’m very like, I’m, I set my goals to a certain extent. And that I guess, when that those are reached, and I keep continue. So, I don’t know. I’m just up in the air right now. I have two years to kind of, you know, think about it. So.

Right, I’m not a big planner, either. I get there when I get there. I get overwhelmed. Yeah. It’s too much to think about. We’ll get there. All right.So, we’ll switch on to the athlete side of things. So going to start with something very cliche. So, with all the work that you’ve been putting in, in the gym and rehabbing, what motivates you to get in there and grind every day?

Ah, I’m just I sell drive. I mean, I’m big on motivating myself to, you know, continue to keep grinding. And I just think like, I always think about someone’s always out there getting better than me. So that kind of drives me to, you know, I need to step up my game and compete. So

All right, so what has your off-season training been like?

Um, a lot of lifting. I felt like I was lifting almost every day. I was just trying to stick to my process, even though it was, you know, a long time off. Right? It was hard sometimes to keep motivated. But I knew that once we were back, we were going to go, you know, hit the ground running and just keeping just staying to my process, really. And just believing in myself.

Gotcha. All right. So, did you try anything new to get an edge this offseason?

Um, no.

Process?

Yeah. Just stuck to my process. I mean, it was a long time. So, I felt like it was repetitive. But yeah, and I did not try anything new.

Yeah, I saw that you had to redshirt because of the 2020 season not being there. Not being able to be played. So, I’m sure that just sitting and waiting for the next game is just torture and then practice every year. Not practice. But training probably got repetitive, like you’re saying, yeah, so after doing some investigative digging, for the short 2020, in 2019 and 2020 season, you put up some really solid stats. When I saw the stats, I was like, Man, she’s a stud. So, second on the team with point three, three, batting average, six runs at team-leading nine running RBIs. That’s really good. And just when the short season that you guys had, that’s quite a bit. So that being said, athletes can be their own harshest critics. So, what part of your game do you think you can improve on that your coaches and teammates don’t see?

Um, I definitely think the mental side. Yeah, as you said, athletes can be their biggest critics. I think that’s what I struggled with that first, during that season, and then till, like one of the coaching stuff was just like, can you chill out and just stop trying so hard? And so that kind of clicked for me. I’m like, you know, you’re right. Like, I’m not staying true to myself, if I’m just putting all these expectations on myself. So, I just stuck to the simple things. And you know, I excelled in that with the simple things. So, it worked.

So, with that, do you guys have any team goals for this upcoming season?

Yeah, we have team goals. Right now, we’re just a very young team. We lost a lot of people due to the pandemic. So, coaches did a lot of recruiting. And I’m grateful for that we have a lot new faces and all that. So, with this younger team going into a conference that, you know, we didn’t compete in this last spring. So, it’d be our first year, I think, just approaching this with, you know, getting our name out there and being competitive. And just, you know, showing what we got and what we’re continuing to work on. So, I think we’re just going to approach it with, you know, let’s be competitive. Let’s challenge some of these teams in this conference.

So, as you said, there’s a lot of new faces. Are there any new faces that CCB should be keeping an eye out for?

Um, there’s, there’s so many. I think you guys are I think they’ll get their names out there soon. So, it’s definitely not going to be a quiet season.

Gotcha. So, you let them make their names for themselves? Gotcha. That’s good enough for me. So, for this upcoming season, what personal goals do you have for it?

The personal goals is just to you know, as I mentioned, having a young team stepping up in that leadership role and trying to guide them to you know, let’s compete let’s so really just being in a leadership role, and then for personal goal would be earning a first team award.

So, receiving a reward is it all WAC?

Yeah, no, it’s Big West.

That sounds great. So, for this upcoming season, has the schedule been released yet for it or? No?

I don’t think so. I don’t believe it’s an out. Yeah.

Are there any teams that you would look forward to playing for? Is this your last year at CSUB? Or you have one more after this?

Yeah, so I know, it’s all confusing about the pandemic year and all that. So, I would be a redshirt junior. So, I would have next year to next year would be my last year.

So, is there anything that you would look forward to playing this season?

I’m definitely looking forward to playing Hawaii since we’re gonna go travel over there. So, I have never been and I’m excited. And hopefully, my family gets to travel too. So that’s a team I’m really looking forward to

With those travel games. You guys get to go out and explore I mean, with the pandemic stuff going on. I don’t know how it would be but are you just kind of stuck in whatever hotel you guys did.

So I don’t I’m not too sure about that. I mean, I hope we go out and explore a little bit. But I, I would imagine staying together as a team. But yeah, with the pandemic rolls. I don’t know how that would work. But hopefully, we get to go out and explore a little bit

Right? That’d be great, especially in Hawaii. So, all right. To finish off this interview, I wanted to ask you three things. So, the first question, if for some reason is hard for everybody, but I get it. So, what is your go-to workout song or genre?

Oh, my goodness, I don’t have a genre, I would say just a little bit of everything. Wrap to country music to hip hop to, you know, just a little bit of everything I listened to

Gotcha. And is there a go-to workout song that you’d like to start off the day with or No,

no, actually, just whatever comes on whatever I push.

Gotcha. Alright, so after you workout, what is your go-to post-workout meal,

It’s definitely something to do with eggs, even if it’s like leftovers with eggs, or just eggs is like the prominent meal for it. So

Gotcha. Another thing that I’ve been noticing is that everybody loves breakfast. So, I mean, I get it. Breakfast is one of my favorite foods to food meals anyways. So last question. For the win. Would you rather have a walk-off solo run? Or a grand slam and why?

I definitely would have. Let’s see. That’s hard. I feel like they’re both similar.

Similar.

I would say the walk-off, I feel like you know, it’s usually a tight game. And whenever you have that walk-off, it’s like, oh, you just, you know, put it together for your team.

Or you backflipping or what?

I got to work on that. But yeah, just so there’s something we can work off work on during this off-season.

So that’s about it. So, thank you for your time. Thank you for sitting down with me and having this conversation this morning. So, I’m rooting for you. So have a great rest of the day and good luck this season. Thank you