{"id":4038,"date":"2016-11-29T19:13:28","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T19:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=4038"},"modified":"2016-12-07T14:09:29","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T14:09:29","slug":"52-second-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=4038","title":{"rendered":"52-second dream"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-martinez.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4094\" src=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-martinez.jpg\" alt=\"Luis Martinez Auburn during the men's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday, March 25, 2016 in Atlanta, Ga. Photo by Wade Rackley\/Auburn Athletics\" width=\"1425\" height=\"959\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-martinez.jpg 1425w, https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-martinez-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-martinez-768x517.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-martinez-1024x689.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1425px) 100vw, 1425px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mornings are the toughest part of swimming. Awake before sunrise and into the frigid waters of the James E. Martin Aquatics Center pool, Luis Martinez, junior in mechanical engineering and member of the Auburn swim team, finishes his laps before most people are out of bed. Whether training to cut a fraction of a second from his lap times or trying to find enough hours in the day to attend class and study, he doesn\u2019t have a moment to spare. It\u2019s a grueling pace that would overwhelm many athletes, but Martinez doesn\u2019t know any other way.<\/p>\n<p>Fighting off the desire to sleep, his race against the clock is a mental struggle. It\u2019s the desire to get better, and not being afraid of failure, that has led to his ability to come to terms with his relentless schedule. But consistently getting better every time, as he has, requires perseverance. Day after day, month after month, year after year, Martinez is defining himself in a sport where doing something over and over again is crucial for success. You can see it when he\u2019s behind the blocks, waiting for the signals that start the race; he is swimming not only against the competition, but against the standard he has set for himself.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez secured his spot in the 2016 Olympics by proving he could swim against the sport\u2019s most elite. In fact, his time of 52.35 in the 100-meter butterfly \u2013 clocked at the U.S. Winter Nationals last year \u2013 was third behind Michael Phelps and Tom Shields. Representing Team Guatemala in Rio, Martinez was 19th fastest in his Olympic heats. Although he didn\u2019t make the finals, he cut his time to 52.22, a personal best and Guatemalan record.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-container\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FQqgjhqFHkk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cGoing to the Olympics is a dream for any athlete that belongs to an Olympic sport,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cBut making the Olympics is not the dream. The dream is going to the Olympics and performing the best you\u2019ve ever performed. Going there and knowing I accomplished that, and gave it my all, was one of the best feelings I\u2019ve ever felt in my life. No matter if I would have finished second, first or last, it would be probably the same feeling at the end. You have 52 seconds to prove that you\u2019ve worked harder than a lot of people, and that\u2019s tough when you know some have worked just as hard as you. It\u2019s extremely competitive, but everyone is going to feel happy at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Born in New Orleans and raised in Guatemala City, Martinez appreciates the opportunities he\u2019s had in life and said that swimming has opened \u201csome amazing doors that maybe nothing else would have opened.\u201d Like many Latin American nations, Guatemala has regions that struggle with poverty and malnutrition rates. For many in the country, the distribution of income remains highly imbalanced, with more than half of the population below the national poverty line.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGuatemala is a very unequal country. There is a huge gap between upper class and lower class. There\u2019s no real substantial middle class,\u201d he said. \u201cI know a lot of kids [in Guatemala] don\u2019t have the opportunity I have, which gives me a lot of motivation to represent my country in the best way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martinez was determined to swim from the age of 3. After a few years, his trainer suggested that the talented athlete should take his skills to the next level. With the support and encouragement of his parents, he was competing by age 10 and moved to Florida after high school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI decided to move to the U.S. to pursue not only a career in engineering, but also as a swimmer. And the U.S. is the biggest powerhouse for swimming in the world,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-4095 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" width=\"264\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2016\/12\/luis-2.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 264px) 100vw, 264px\" \/><\/a>Martinez will be the first to tell you that he was afraid he wasn\u2019t fast enough to be recruited by the NCAA powerhouse Tigers, but transferring to Auburn was the best decision he\u2019s ever made. After swimming at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Martinez realized he wanted more, especially the option to compete year-round. That\u2019s where Auburn entered the picture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven though (Missouri S&amp;T) was really good, I knew there were some other great schools, such as Auburn, that have an amazing engineering program and also have such an amazing swim team. It\u2019s just a really good sports legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Swimming at this level is a full-time job, but the Auburn junior manages it while also dealing with the academic demands of mechanical engineering, a major that could rival any college course of study for the title of most rigorous. Although he is determined, he acknowledges that pursuing both dreams at once can be a physical and mental struggle. Akin to the butterfly stroke, it is quickly exhausting \u2013 an act of coordination that becomes a challenge of rhythm and timing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s getting to a point where none of my classes are easy anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cSome are easier than others, but that doesn\u2019t make them easy. Now that I\u2019m starting the real engineering classes, it\u2019s so time demanding. Sometimes I just want to sleep. Sometimes I just want to nap instead of going to class. And a part of me knows that actually I would get more benefit for my body, but on the other side my grades would be hurt if I don\u2019t go to class. But it\u2019s going to be like that forever. Even when I\u2019m not swimming, when I get a job, there are decisions you have to take that you\u2019re not going to like. But you have to take them because they\u2019re necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Swimming doesn\u2019t allow much time for extracurricular activities, but Martinez tries to make sure he isn\u2019t missing out on the typical life of a college student. He catches up on sleep during the weekend, he attends football games with his friends and teammates on Saturdays and he even plays the electric guitar \u2013 a passion of his for almost nine years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a huge fan of music. I played piano when I was a little younger and I used to give little concerts when I was in Guatemala. I was so serious about piano that I actually thought about quitting swimming for piano. I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t do that. I stopped playing piano and I forgot everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For now, his aspirations for the near future remain in the pool. Martinez plans on training for the 2020 Olympic trials, but a career in engineering is what he\u2019s striving for in the long term. Inspired by wanting to innovate new and creative ways to solve problems, he is excited about the future and the opportunity to work in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really like designing. I would love to go to a job, and someone tells me, \u2018We have this idea, and I would like you to sit down and give us a prototype, or design something, or manufacture this.\u2019 That would be my dream job. That sounds really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martinez is confident that the lessons he\u2019s learned from competing will apply to the engineering profession. The combination of self-discipline and the motivation to constantly improve and progress to the next level is something he takes to heart. If he doesn\u2019t give it his all and learn from his mistakes, Martinez knows he will have no one to blame but himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn swimming, time doesn\u2019t lie. If you\u2019re out of time, you\u2019re out of time. You can\u2019t cheat the clock,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIf you didn\u2019t do something right, just one thing right, you\u2019re going to pay for it at the end. There\u2019s no other way around it. We have this subconscious feeling when we know we didn\u2019t give it everything we could have, and the end result isn\u2019t going to be the best it could have been, you know it\u2019s because that\u2019s on you. It\u2019s hard to get better all the time, month after month. When you realize you\u2019ve done everything perfectly, there\u2019s always something to get better at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mornings are the toughest part of swimming. Awake before sunrise and into the frigid waters of the James E. Martin Aquatics Center pool, Luis Martinez, junior in mechanical engineering and member of the Auburn swim team, finishes his laps before most people are out of bed. Whether training to cut [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[897,896,140,898],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>52-second dream &raquo; Auburn Engineer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=4038\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"52-second dream &raquo; Auburn Engineer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mornings are the toughest part of swimming. Awake before sunrise and into the frigid waters of the James E. 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