Kicking It In With a Soccer Star

Meet Martin Wu, senior co-captain of the soccer team and soccer superstar!

Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Frederik Schutz, Yashna Patel

Issue 4, Volume 114

By Martin Wu

Name: Martin Wu

Grade: 12th

Height: 5’11”

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Green

Date of Birth: March 10, 2006

When and how did you start playing soccer?

I’ve been playing since I was five or six years old. Soccer is a tradition passed on to me by my dad. My dad’s Peruvian culture and my mom’s French culture have a passion for soccer, and that got passed down to me at family meetings and dinners where we’d just play afterward. From that, I developed a huge passion for it, and I’ve been playing it ever since.

What position do you play? What skills/strengths are involved?

For Stuy, I play striker. You’re the main guy in charge of the offense as striker. The team relies on you to score and make plays there. The most important skill to be a good striker, I would say, is having game IQ, having a good reading of the game, and being able to be selfish at the right times. Of course, it helps to be skillful and athletic, but I think, by far, good reading of the game separates decent players from great players. For club, I play right back where my focus is primarily on defending.

What is your most memorable moment with the Peglegs?

Beating Beacon 3-1 this year was incredibly memorable. But I would also have to say being up against MLK at halftime. I really thought it was going to be our year [where we beat them]. That one was the most devastating one but definitely something I’ll remember.

Do you have any plans to continue playing soccer in the future or in college?

I didn’t go through the recruiting process to get recruited or committed as an athlete, but once I’m in college, I’ll look at how good a team is and if I can walk on to either their main team or their second team. But I definitely want to play soccer for the next four years of my life.

Do you have any pregame superstitions or rituals?

One of my superstitions is that if I play without my Invisalign aligners, I’m not going to play well. So I always try to wear my aligners to games even though I don’t need to wear them at all throughout the day.

You’re having a record personal season. What aspects do you think have contributed to your success?

I believe I have really contributed to the team spirit. I haven’t significantly improved at soccer since last year. But the big difference is the fact I can rely on the players around me and that we trust each other and fight for each other once we’re on the field. And that just leads to everyone playing better. And for me, as the striker, that leads to scoring goals.

What is your jersey number, and what made you decide that number?

Twenty-two. I was between 17 and 22 because those are genuinely my favorite numbers. I remember choosing them because I probably had a good day on the 17th and 22nd [days] in my life.

What are the best and worst parts of soccer?

The best parts are definitely the moments you have with your teammates. Those are why I would always rather do a team sport than an individual sport like tennis or anything of that kind. Just the values you learn from playing in a team and the friendships you make are by far the most valuable parts of soccer. And then the worst part of soccer, I would say, is when you play like a really annoying team and all they want to do is start fights. It’s like a sour taste in the mouth.