17/12/2020 11:00
Maaseik’s Jan Martinez continues family success story in Volleyball
News from the clubs
Las Palmas, Spain, December 17, 2020. Greenyard MAASEIK will be playing CV Guaguas LAS PALMAS of Spain later this evening for a spot in the semis of the men’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2021. The roster of the Belgians includes a player that feels very much at home in a Spanish-speaking environment. As an Argentinean, Jan Martinez Franchi (22, see picture, #3) understands every Spanish word spoken on the Canary Islands.
Maaseik has had a number of Argentine players in their ranks in recent years. Just think of Federico Pereyra, Juan Ignacio Finoli and Nicolas Bruno or Ivan Castellani, who came to the city on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands with his father, the famous coach Daniel Castellani.
“I know coach Castellani and Nicolas Bruno,” says Jan Martinez. “I started playing Volleyball at Ciudad Voley, in my hometown Buenos Aires. After that, I spent one successful season with Bolivar, crowned with the Argentinean national league title. Last season, I played my first year outside of my home country, at SESI-RJ in Brazil. In the semi-finals of the playoffs, we defeated Taubaté, the team coached by Castellani.”
On Tuesday, Martinez had the upper hand on a fellow compatriot, Nicolas Bruno in Greenyard MAASEIK’s 3-0 win against SK ANKARA. It looks very much as if Martinez beats all of his friends and ex-teammates, since next to Nicolas Bruno Wallace de Souza was on the roster of SK ANKARA as well. The Brazilian superstar and Martinez shared the same colours last year at SESI-RJ.
“Well, that is sports,” laughs Martinez. “Nevertheless, Bruno is a good friend. Actually, when I received the offer from Maaseik last summer, I called him in order to check out about the Belgian team. I knew nothing about Belgium, only the name of the volleyball team Maaseik. I knew it was a good club and indeed, I feel happy with my life in Belgium.”
After a very strong performance against SK ANKARA, Jan and his team are in the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup. However, Martinez wants more. He wants to follow the footprints of his father Esteban and his sister Morena. “They both participated in the Olympic Games. Now it is my turn: I want to be at the re-scheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021.”
Jan Martinez Franchi (#3) standing at the net together with teammates Pieter Verhees and Lou Kindt
Father Esteban is a legend in Argentinean Volleyball. “He took part in four Olympiads with the ‘celeste y blanco’ team: twice indoor, in Los Angeles 1984 and in Seoul 1988. In Korea, he even won a bronze medal. Later he also participated twice as a Beach Volleyball player in the Games in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000,” Jan recalls. His father is the Argentinean Karch Kiraly, so to speak.
Jan’s sister Morena was also a volleyball international. “She took part in the Olympic Games as well, four years ago in Rio de Janeiro. She too wrote history, since it was the first time that our women’s team was able to qualify for the Games.”
Jan himself hopes that he will also become an Olympian. “I have been part of the national team in the VNL for the last three years. If I add a couple of successes with Maaseik in this CEV Cup and in the Belgian league, I hope that my Olympic dream will come true.”
His first chance to make an extra step towards Tokyo lies only a couple of hours ahead, with the quarterfinal against CV Guaguas LAS PALMAS. Whom will Jan Martinez have to face in this game? Indeed, Pablo Koukartsev, the Argentinean opposite of the Spanish hosts. “Yet I do not know him very well. I played him once or twice, when he defended the colours of Bolivar, my own old team.” Therefore, it will be once again Argentinean friends against each other, with a spot in the CEV Cup semis at stake.
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