December 10, 2008

     MERIDEN - Queen Elizabeth I was a mere 25 years old when she ascended to the throne of England. Alexander the Great was younger when he began his conquest of Persia and the rest of the known world. And on January 20, 2009, President-elect Barack Obama will become one of the youngest leaders of the United States to take office.
     Age is nothing but a number. So it should come as no surprise that in the sport of girls basketball, when a player is ready, she's ready. For the Platt Panthers, a 15-year-old point guard holds the keys to the kingdom as much of the team's success will fall upon the young shoulders of sophomore Damika Martinez.
     Martinez exploded onto the Central Connecticut Conference scene with a vengeance in her freshman year, earning All-CCC South honors while averaging a staggering 16.5 points a game, along with 38 assists and 29 blocked shots. She scored 330 points overall, setting a new record for points scored in a freshman season, breaking the mark previously held by Kelly Penwell, Platt's all-time leading scorer.
     It was an easy decision for head coach Tom Johnson to put her in charge of the offense this season. He knows her age doesn't matter. "It doesn't because of her experience," he said. "She plays AAU, she plays Boys Club. She plays against the boys all the time, so she really knows what she's doing."
     Martinez is all business on the court. With a quick first step and uncanny knack to drive the lane, she scored nearly all of the Panthers' points in the Maloney Jamboree on Dec. 5th. She blocked shots. She stole the ball. She racked up a couple of assists. All of these things are preludes to the season to come, but she's been preparing for it in the offseason as well. Weightlifting and playing basketball every day are her keys to success, and during the AAU season, she was named to the CT Starters College Showcase's All-Tournament team.
     "I just want to get more passes, and more rebounds, and hopefully my team can come and help me out this year," Martinez said of her expectations this sophomore year.
     The Panthers aren't a group of underclassmen learning the game. Johnson returns four seniors in Emma Papandrea, NechMarie Selgado, Cayla French and Colleen Tencza. But it remains Martinez's job to lead the way. Johnson said there is no different approach with her as a sophomore as there would be with a veteran senior leader.
     "Not with Mika, because she has the skills," he said. "There are obviously things she has to work on. Her left hand has to get a little better, but she's been playing basketball for so long, and she has such good court sense that she's like a senior on the court. She has the experience and she's got that body. She can jump and run."
     Obviously, Johnson knows there will be challenges. This year, the CCC is onto Martinez's skill and the element of surprise is gone.
     "Now people are ready for her," Johnson acknowledged. "That's the problem too. Last year was a little bit of a surprise. Now, when Platt comes to town, they're going to be ready to stop Mika. That's why I need these other kids to step up and give her the scoring support that we're going to have to have."
     It's the strength of her team that's most important to Martinez, who will be looked upon to help develop her young teammates in the hopes of forming a better scoring balance on the court as well as a dependable bench. Oftentimes, talented players can tend to take on too much. Johnson is pleased that hasn't happened yet.
     "She hasn't done that," he said. "She's passed the ball. She's given the ball up like she's supposed to. She does take on a lot, but that's part of what our game plan is, to get the ball in her hands and do things with it."
     And so far, she's done just that in the short time she's been on the team.
     "I like the challenge," Martinez said. "I don't want to follow anybody. I want to be a leader."