Avery Martínez learned to love basketball early on in his life, since he is the son and nephew of two of the best Costa Rican basketball players, Henry Martínez and Kay Martínez.

He is 18-years-old, and has been playing hoops since he is two. His dream is to one day reach the NBA, but he knows the road is long and hard, specially coming from a country where this sport doesn’t find the support that soccer does.

Avery played in Costa Rica with the Santa Cecilia team, and he then played in the United States with the Atlanta Georgia team; currently he is part of the Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High University in Montecarlo, California

Martínez, is giving the first big step towards his goal, he has a verbal agreement with the UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) basketball team, agreement which should be made official in the next few weeks.

“I am very grateful for the UTEP offer, I don’t know exactly when it will be made official since first I have to go sign with them, but there is a verbal agreement and likely it will be made official very soon,” said Avery to local daily La Nación, and continued “I’ve always dreamed of the NBA, I am 18 and I still think of it, it is easier to be noticed here (varsity league), but it is not easy to make it to the big leagues because there are a lot of players that want it. It requires a lot of work and sacrifices. Not everyone makes it”.

There has never been a Costa Rican in the NBA, perhaps Martínez will be the first and make history.