The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has named 23-year old Brayelin Martínez its “Player of the Week.” Martínez is part of the “Caribbean Queens” volleyball team that in January 2020 qualified to compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games. The games have been rescheduled for summer 2021. The DR women’s volleyball team has played in the Athens 2004 and London 2012 Olympic Games.
“I have played at the Volleyball Nations League, the World Cup and the World Championship so the Olympics are the only missing piece in my career,” Martínez had said earlier this year. On the team, Martínez is joined by her young sister Jineiry, who is a middle blocker.
FIVB reports that Martínez first got involved in volleyball ten years ago at home in Santo Domingo, where she started showing her potential.
After several years in domestic competitions on the Caribbean island, Martinez moved across the ocean to play a couple of seasons in Italy, including with Unet Yamamay Busto Arsizio (with which she earned a silver medal in the 2017 European CEV Cup) and Pomi Casalmaggiore.
She won her only domestic club title in 2018 during a brief stint back home with Caribeñas, before again crossing the pond for a season in Turkey with Aydin BBSK.
Back to the Americas for the latest club season, Martinez joined Praia Clube of Uberlandia in Brazil’s Superleague, helping the team win the 2019 Supercup. She was named on the Dream Team of the 2020 South American Club Championship as best opposite of the competition, when Praia Clube finished runners-up to Minas Tenis Clube of Belo Horizonte.
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FIVB
21 April 2020