Sylmar Coach Making the Grade

Emanuel Martins, coach of the Sylmar High boys’ soccer team, measures success by charting the progress his players make off the field.

“I try to be more than a coach; I try to be a mentor,” Martins said. “If we can give a chance to one player, it’s worth it. It’s one less person who is going to suffer in the future.”

Martins, whose disciplinary style includes holding practices at 6 a.m., requires seniors on his team to apply to at least three colleges.

When Martins learned grades of several players were slipping, he canceled practice for a week and held after-school tutoring sessions.

The results have been inspiring. Last season, nine Spartans became academically ineligible. Only two have met the same fate this season.

“He motivates us,” said defender Javier Jimenez, who has a 3.6 grade-point average and plans to attend Cal State Northridge or UCLA in the fall. “Nobody thought we could do it. The school is proud of us now.”

Martins’ efforts have translated to the field, where the Spartans are returning to the form that carried them to the City Section semifinals in 1996. After finishing with a 2-13-3 record last season, Sylmar is 10-9-5 and competing in the playoffs for the first time since 1996.

Seeded No. 29 among 32 teams, the Spartans upset No. 4 Banning, 2-0, in a first-round game Friday and play at Jefferson today.

Senior forward Jaime Castellanos has been instrumental in the turnaround, leading Sylmar with 13 goals and five assists.

Martins tries to steer his players away from the path he followed after high school. After playing at Sylmar from 1993-95, Martins chose not to attend college. He worked at fast-food restaurants before meeting Adolfo Perez, the soccer coach at Mission College.

Perez encouraged Martins to play soccer at Mission, a decision that led to a college education and Martins becoming a successful coach and businessman.

“He made something out of himself,” Perez said. “If it wasn’t for soccer, it may have never happened.”

Martins, 24, owns Emart Web Solutions, a web-designing business.

“The only reason why I went to college was for soccer,” he said. “I’d still be at Jack-In-The-Box if it wasn’t for the opportunity to play at Mission College.”