Senior Tomas Martins arrived in the United States in 2019 after moving from São Paulo, Brazil. Since his arrival he has competed competitively in tennis and hopes to play for a D1 college in the future. Additionally, he hopes to continue his travels and become more informed on different cultures.
This year, Martins received the impressive opportunity to go compete in a an international tournament, the ITF J30, which took place in foreign countries including Honduras and Nicaragua. Abroad, Martins experienced a world of different cultures, foods, and people.
Martins told us all about his experiences with different communities, the competition he faced during his travels, and gave us an honest review of what it was like visiting these countries. Martins explained how it was upsetting traveling to these countries with only his father and no coaches or friends to rely on as a support system.
“It was a fun experience, but the pressure was definitely there. The thought of losing and having wasted time and money on hotels, planes, and missed school affects you a lot. Especially on the court,” Martins said.
In August, Martins visited Managua, Nicaragua, for 12 days. Here, he competed in multiple rounds and got to play against other competitors from the United States and South, and central American countries.
Martins placed 16th overall in both singles and doubles in the first week of his stay in Nicaragua. During his second week he didn’t get to compete in doubles but made it to the quarter finals for singles.
Despite having a successful run in his tennis matches, Martins discussed his perspective on Nicaragua and the similarities between the country and his home country, Brazil.
“The barbeque culture in Nicaragua is very similar to Brazil, which I liked a lot. It was also really cool seeing the active volcanoes since there aren’t any in Florida or Brazil.”
Martins also said how everywhere he went, Bad Bunny, the well-known Puerto rican music artist, was being blasted in the streets, which he had also enjoyed.
Luckily for Martins, he met up with some fellow contestants whom he had already met before outside of Honduras.
“It was nice having people I knew at the tournament, especially since we were all in a foreign place.”
From August 31st to September 7th, Martins landed in Comayagua, Honduras and stayed during the tournament in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Here, he won three rounds of singles and two rounds of doubles, but unfortunately lost in the quarterfinals for both events.
When asked if playing tennis was any different in Honduras, Martins explained how the court he competed at was over 4,000 feet up in elevation, so it was a different physical sensation competing on the courts. He claimed that because of the air pressure differences the ball was flying by much faster than usual.
“It was a really challenging environment, the balls felt really light and the courts were really fast, especially at that altitude.”
When asked if he would visit these countries again for fun or would recommend the students of Saint Stephen’s to visit, he explained that he would visit Honduras for fun and would recommend Honduras for tourists since it was more “Americanized.”
For Nicaragua, Martins explained that “If you don’t speak Spanish in Nicaragua, you’re in trouble.”
Martin’s experience doesn’t end and he will continue traveling for competitions starting next week with his returnal to Nicaragua for tennis.
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