She sees a future in biomedical engineering.
Bio what?
“Right now, I want to be a biomedical engineer,” said Dallas Martinez, who is enjoying her Intro to Engineering class at Sacred Hearts Academy. “You make or improve the machines in hospitals and everything like that.”
Away from the rough and tumble world on the basketball court, the senior is all about effort and rewards in the classroom. But it’s another class that introduced the Star-Advertiser All-State Fab 15 player to a world where fun and work blend into something she calls “therapeutic.”
“Ceramics and pottery,” Martinez said. “It took a while to get the hang of it. It’s a lot of arms and core work, you have to squeeze things together, moderate how fast the wheel goes.
“If you go too fast, your clay’s going to go anywhere. If you go too slow, your clay’s not going to have the right shape.”
She took the course because she needed the art credit.
”I didn’t think I was going to like it at all, but it became my favorite class. It’s therapeutic. You have to mold the clay before you put it on the wheel, so you can take your anger out on it. You have to pound and roll,” she said.
Everywhere she is, Martinez won’t stop until the work is complete.
She never stops hustling
There was just one minute left.
Sacred Hearts was taking a sizable defeat at the hands of No. 1-ranked ‘Iolani last week. The Lancers, playing at home, are no slouch at No. 10 in the state. Though the dominating Raiders slowed the pace to a crawl in a show of sportsmanship, there was the occasional fast break.
The one player sprinting back to tip passes and stop ‘Iolani layups — as best she could — was Lancer No. 14. Martinez isn’t the only reason Sacred Hearts, 9-3 overall, has risen from a Division II basketball powerhouse status to the Top 10 statewide — as a D-I team. Martinez is simply an athletic, physical force with the roundball IQ to match.
“It’s her nature to do those things,” Lancers coach Richard Kasuya said. “She doesn’t have to be told or reminded. It’s always second nature to her to give her best effort. The score doesn’t matter on our team. She plays as hard if we’re up, down or tied. It’s infectious and they feed off of her, and to be honest she feeds off the other players on her team.”
Six of SHA’s nonconference wins are against D-I competition, including Kahuku. The three losses were to teams that will contend for their league titles: Mililani, ‘Iolani and Waiakea.
Coach Kasuya’s squad doesn’t have a giant in the middle, but among Martinez, Te‘Hiwa Medeiros and their teammates, they share the responsibility of crashing the boards.
“She’s my twin,” Martinez said of Medeiros, who leads the team at 11.2 points per game. “We literally look alike and we have that kind of telepathy on the court. I know where she’s going to be. I can count on her.”
Reliable asset
Martinez has been steady since day one of her freshman year. As a senior, she is averaging nearly 11 points per game, shooting 45 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free-throw line. That includes a string of 18 consecutive foul shots made in back-to-back games against Mililani and McKinley. Martinez is also shooting 47 percent from 3-point range. and averages 7.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.9 steals per game.
“Some players need to dominate the ball to have that kind of impact, but Dallas doesn’t need to, and her IQ is off the charts,” Kasuya said. “Her talent is great and her leadership skills are great, too. We’re so much more confident and focused when she’s on the court.
“We graduated seven seniors, so we’ve asked Dallas and Sade Mizusawa to lead as co-captains. We’re younger, but in many ways we’re coming together.”
Then-coach Ryan Hogue solidified the program, then turned the reins over to Kasuya two seasons ago to focus fully on his athletic director duties. Kasuya, who teaches at the University of Hawaii’s medical school, brought something new.
“Inspiring. I love Coach Richard a lot. He has so much faith and trust in us,” said Martinez, who gets emotional talking about him. “He believes so much in us. I know I’m crying, but he kind of turned our program around. His philosophy is he doesn’t really need to yell to get his point across, and I think that was good for us because girls don’t really take criticism too well. He made us a lot closer. He’s just a great guy and I’m glad he’s our coach.”
Her father, Eric, has been on staff through the years, providing another key component.
“They’re kind of a good cop, bad cop kind of thing,” Dallas Martinez said. “Coach Richard is the gentle, calm one, and my dad is like, ‘I’ll yell at you if you need that sometimes.’ If I coach one day, I think I’ll be a little of my dad and a little of Coach Richard.”
DALLAS MARTINEZ
Sacred Hearts Academy • Basketball • Senior
Q & A / FAVORITES
>> Athlete: Michael Jordan “To me, he’s the greatest basketball player of all time. I didn’t grow up in that age, but I grew up watching him with my dad. I fell in love with his game and the way he played.”
>> Team: Miami Heat “Because of Dwyane Wade. He’s probably my second favorite player.”
>> GPA: 3.85
>> Movie: “High School Musical” “I’ve seen it too many times to count. I like Troy Bolton. He’s a basketball player and the plot wraps around him and how he balances all his things. You haven’t seen it? You have to watch it. It’s on Netflix. My favorite song from that movie is ‘You Gotta Get Your Head in the Game.’ “
>> TV show: “Vampire Diaries”
>> Video game: Halo “I kind of play with my brothers now. They’re younger, 14 and 10. It gets really competitive just because that’s my brothers’ thing. There’s yelling and screaming.”
>> Music artist: Khalid
>> Motto or scripture: Gal. 2:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.”
>> What mom (Vanessa) says that you can’t forget? “My mom’s favorite line is, ‘Don’t ask, just Google.’ ”
>> What dad (Eric) says that you can’t forget? “ ‘Use your left hand.’ That’s a famous line. Or ‘Rebound.’ ”
>> Dream/bucket list: “I’d love to go to Italy because that’s my favorite food. I want to go to maybe Greece just because of their architecture and statues. And I always wanted to go to Egypt. We studied that in history and I like the architecture. It blows my mind what they did without technology.”
