2008 Woodie Awards
Unfinished business
Brad Wilk
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Sports
Matt Martin can't seem to get away from the events of April 14, 2007.
On that day the Lakeland College men's volleyball team lost a heartbreaking match to rival UW-Oshkosh in the national championship.
"There are certain plays from the national championship that I have emblazoned in my memory," Martin said. "When something similar happens to that now in practice or another game, I have this flashback. It would happen when I was watching my club team [this summer]. I'd see them do something we did in the national championship and have this terrible flashback."
Martin graduated with a degree in biology last May. After he decided earn a master's degree, he quit his new job and returned to campus this spring. He also has some unfinished business in athletics.
The Ill. native was working at British Petroleum, in the Chicago suburbs, as a material safety data sheet author. Although there was novelty to his job, Matt was not enjoying the work. When he started coaching a team of high school volleyball players with former Lakeland teammate Adam Plach, it reminded him how much he missed volleyball.
"Watching high school kids and coaching them made me really want to play," Martin said. "I knew I had two years left and decided to get my masters and play volleyball. I was hungry for a national championship."
Men's volleyball is a club sport at Lakeland, and the Muskies follow National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) rules, which allow players to have six consecutive years of participation. Martin played four years before graduating last May.
Martin first talked to Head Coach Chad Schreiber about coming back to Lakeland last fall, when the Lakeland women's volleyball team played at a tournament in Elmhurst, Ill., near where Martin worked.
"I saw Chad and I threw it out there 'I've been thinking …' and it totally threw him off guard," Martin said. "He said 'It's your decision. You've got to make the right decision for you.'"
On that day the Lakeland College men's volleyball team lost a heartbreaking match to rival UW-Oshkosh in the national championship.
"There are certain plays from the national championship that I have emblazoned in my memory," Martin said. "When something similar happens to that now in practice or another game, I have this flashback. It would happen when I was watching my club team [this summer]. I'd see them do something we did in the national championship and have this terrible flashback."
Martin graduated with a degree in biology last May. After he decided earn a master's degree, he quit his new job and returned to campus this spring. He also has some unfinished business in athletics.
The Ill. native was working at British Petroleum, in the Chicago suburbs, as a material safety data sheet author. Although there was novelty to his job, Matt was not enjoying the work. When he started coaching a team of high school volleyball players with former Lakeland teammate Adam Plach, it reminded him how much he missed volleyball.
"Watching high school kids and coaching them made me really want to play," Martin said. "I knew I had two years left and decided to get my masters and play volleyball. I was hungry for a national championship."
Men's volleyball is a club sport at Lakeland, and the Muskies follow National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) rules, which allow players to have six consecutive years of participation. Martin played four years before graduating last May.
Martin first talked to Head Coach Chad Schreiber about coming back to Lakeland last fall, when the Lakeland women's volleyball team played at a tournament in Elmhurst, Ill., near where Martin worked.
"I saw Chad and I threw it out there 'I've been thinking …' and it totally threw him off guard," Martin said. "He said 'It's your decision. You've got to make the right decision for you.'"
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