NATCHITOCHES – Kids playing basketball enjoy the playground game "Around the World."
 
Former Northwestern State graduate manager Stephon Martinez is living it.
 
Last week, "former" didn't fit next to his job title, but opportunity suddenly knocked. Last Saturday's home game was his final one with the Demons. Martinez is heading toward Beijing, China, and a player development position at the renowned WuFang Sports Center.
 
He will spend a year in Beijing, training players ranging from teenagers to seasoned professionals, even some from the NBA.
 
"It's the same training center that Tony Parker, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant used to visit, to train and also to promote their brands," said Martinez, who had some NBA help getting the gig.
 
He was recommended by Mike Procopio, director of player development for the Dallas Mavericks, and Tony Ronzone, director of player personnel for the Mavs.
 
"When those guys give you their seal of approval," said Martinez, "it's pretty much an offer you wouldn't begin to refuse."
 
He has been far away before. Martinez spent 15 days last summer in Nazareth, Israel, running basketball camps. He's spend a few days in Finland doing the same thing, and in Mexico, where he has family roots.
 
It's an unconventional path among his peers in college basketball. Most of them have visions of coaching in the NBA or in the blue-blood world of Power 5 conference basketball.
 
Martinez, a former college player at Lyon College in Arkansas, wants to teach the sport. After graduating in business administration, he founded DigDeep Basketball, a skill-development company that caters from youth leaguers to pro players.
 
"When I was younger, I was so hung up on the NBA. But I've seen a different path, and I'm on it," he said. "I want to build a national brand, with a team of trainers who are training some of the best players in the world. I'm trying to be in as many markets as possible. It's a little bit out there, this opportunity, but if I have the chance, I need to take it."
 
The connections sprang from Martinez attending last year's NCAA Final Four and National Association of Basketball Coaches Convention in Houston, and a chance meeting with Hank Smith, part of the Oklahoma City Thunder's basketball staff.
 
"That's what the Final Four experience is about, especially for young, ambitious coaches," said Demons' head coach Mike McConathy. "You meet people, make connections. You never know what might develop as far as scheduling, recruiting, job opportunities. There are great workshops at the NABC convention, but the networking is crucial for young guys like Stephon."
 
A trip to Houston ultimately rewarded him with a job in Beijing. He doesn't speak Chinese, but that's hardly a deal-breaker.
 
"In Israel everything was in Arabic. I'd watch TV to WATCH TV. Couldn't understand what was said, couldn't understand the graphics on screen, and this will be the same situation," said Martinez, who will benefit from interpreters at the training center, as he rooms with three Americans working there.
 
"The more people you're around, the better perspective you have on the world. The culture difference doesn't scare me much. There will be a time when I get on the ground in Beijing and I'll look around and see that I'm in a completely different place, far away from home, but that's good.
 
"The Chinese Basketball Association is exploding. The NBA is obviously the best league in the world, and Europe is right behind that in terms of the caliber of play, but the CBA is getting in the conversation," said Martinez. "Economically, there are a billion people there, three times the size of our population, and they love basketball. They have a very serious financial commitment to the game.
 
"I'll have all levels of players. A lot of professional Chinese domestic players, a lot of NBA guys come over in the summer, and a good number of former NBA players are coming over to play and train. We'll have good junior players and kids just starting and showing some promise," he said.
 
Training players is coaching outside a team concept. There aren't games to win, or trips to make. While the Demons roll into San Antonio and Corpus Christi this week, Martinez is heading much farther west, to the Far East, to influence individuals.
 
"It's targeted skill development. It depends on who you're working with, where they are in their development. If you're working with a younger player, you are doing skill development, and you're also mentoring them, teaching them work habits. If you can teach someone to work hard, forget basketball, that's a life skill that will always benefit them.
 
"You're trying to make that athlete recognize things they might not have seen as being possible, and working to achieve that. If a college player is averaging 10 points, and you think he can score 18, you try to develop him that way. If he's the 14^th man on an NBA roster, and making the league minimum, and a couple years later he's signing a multi-million dollar contract, that's you helping him realize what he can do."
 
Although his time at NSU is ending a few months early – he will complete his sport administration master's degree, however – and in midseason, Martinez is grateful for his Demon days.
 
"Everybody on our staff has influenced me. Before I got here, I thought I worked hard. I've picked up something from everybody that I know will benefit me the rest of my career. Some places in Division I, you're there to lick envelopes and fold towels. Here, the way Coach McConathy runs it, you get to do a lot. I tell the new GA's coming in, you have the same base responsibility. It's your duty to see if you can earn more. That's how you get better. I've had a lot of opportunity to grow here."