Today we’d like to introduce you to Gracie Martinez.
Hi Gracie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Gracie Martinez, and I am a professional rugby player for the Dominican Republic National Women’s Rugby team. I was born in the Bronx to two Dominican immigrants who moved to NY in hopes of providing a better future for their kids. Although dance was initially my passion, I discovered my love for sports while attending boarding school. Determined to pursue athletics in college, I tried out for the softball team at Penn State but did not make the cut.
However, the rugby coach approached me after witnessing my tryouts and invited me to join the team. The prospect of traveling to Europe every year to play convinced me to give rugby a try. Thus, my rugby journey began at Penn State, and later, I transferred to Miami to continue playing. While traveling to Georgia to play in a playoff game, I ended up performing well and got offered a varsity D1 scholarship to play rugby at Life University.
The coach told me they were starting a women’s program and would love to have me play. She told me we had a chance to make history for the school which ultimately led me to Atlanta. In just the second year of the women’s varsity program, we won two national championships, establishing ourselves as the top women’s collegiate rugby team in the country.
After graduating from Life University, a representative from the Dominican Republic National Women’s Rugby team reached out to me. They asked if I would join their team for a tournament, along with other Dominican women who played in the United States. The team’s performance in this tournament would determine their qualification for the Pan American Games, which are Olympic Qualifiers.
Our inclusion on the team was intended to enhance the play and knowledge of the sport among the women in the Dominican Republic. Resources for female athletics in the DR are scarce compared to the opportunities we had in the United States, where many of us played for universities or semi-pro teams that provided the necessary resources for our development. The previous year, the team had finished second to last, but with our participation, we were optimistic about the future.
Unfortunately, the progress our team made in the following years was hindered by unforeseen factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to undergo a rebuilding period once again. However, we are now back on track, and I am excited to continue breaking barriers for women, especially in the Dominican Republic.
In 2026, the Dominican Republic will be hosting the Central American and Caribbean Games (CACGs), a multi-sport regional championship event. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to train and compete in the hopes of securing a place on the podium. This achievement would greatly benefit our women’s team by providing more funding for equipment, resources, and other necessities. It would also open doors for more women in the Dominican Republic to participate in sports and change societal perspectives.
This is my ultimate dream. In addition to my rugby career, I am a youth rugby coach. I teach the sport to after-school programs, aiming to spread knowledge and promote the benefits of rugby. I believe it is crucial to instill discipline, respect, teamwork, hard work, and perseverance in children through sports. I enjoy teaching them skills that will be valuable both on and off the field. Thank you for allowing me to share my story and aspirations.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, the road has definitely been a bumpy one. As a female athlete playing a sport that is not traditional to American culture is even harder. As female athletes, we already aren’t offered the proper amount of resources we need to succeed and progress to being professional athletes and performing at the most elite levels. Then you add in the fact that rugby wasn’t well-known in America until the last decade.
When I first started playing there were barely any opportunities for women to play rugby but thank goodness the awareness of the sport started growing once it was reinstated in the 2016 Olympics. Since then the sport has grown so much and has allowed for more resources and opportunities for women in this sport.
Now imagine playing for a third-world country where support for female sports is barely there and the corruption within the sports federation, especially when it comes to financials was at an all-time high. Another big obstacle was the lack of rugby resources and knowledge that was provided to the women who lived in the Dominican Republic. It was hard to have to come to a team you’ve never played for before and have to essentially teach the team the sport over again.
Sometimes the language was a barrier and hard to explain certain things. I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries as a player but I also felt like I had a responsibility to my team to make us as prepared to perform at an elite level. So the other American-Dominican players took it upon ourselves to educate our fellow teammates and it truly made all the difference in the world.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am like a hustle man in Martin lol I am a technology analyst for the government specializing in UA and Function Testing as well as UX Design. I also am a rugby youth coach, I go to after-school programs all over Atlanta and teach kids skills that will help them on and off the field. I also just started my own mobile recovery business called The Recovery Spot which caters to athletes and people who need recovery for their bodies.
I travel to people’s homes and offer recovery services like Normatec pants, machine massage therapy, stretching, foam rolling, e-stem, ice baths, and saunas. I also work with the youth providing my services during tournaments allowing them to perform to their best ability while also teaching and instilling how important recovery is for athletes starting at a young age. I also am well known for my love of tackling. I just coached an event for the NFL’s Super Bowl.
The event was called a ‘Day in the Life Superbowl’ where we gave women the opportunity to experience learning how to play football. I was blessed enough to be able to coach the portion for tackling and the women had a blast. It was so gratifying to see these women do something that they thought was beyond their capabilities. I love to look at these women’s faces when they finally realize the power and capabilities they carry inside. I will also start holding tackling clinics to teach athletes how to properly tackle in order to reduce the possibility of concussions and CTE.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memories are the weekends when my family got together to party and celebrate life. My dad and uncles would play life music using traditional instruments that were used in the Dominican Republic like maracas, guiros, hand drums, guitars, etc. All the kids would be competing against each other on the dance floor in hopes of winning the money prize that was always offered to us.
I am so glad our parents provided this experience to us as it really allowed us to learn more about our culture despite us living in another country. It allowed us to spend valuable time together and build lasting memories with each other. I haven’t experienced that feeling in a very long time.
Pricing:
- Basic Recovery Package $90-90 mins 1. Normatec Pants 2. E-Stem Machine 3. Foam Rolling 4. Machine Gun Therapy 5. Stretching
- Premium Recovery Package $120-120 mins 1. Normatec Pants 2. E-Stem Machine 3. Foam Rolling 4. Machine Gun Therapy 5. Light Soft Tissue Massage 6. Stretching 7. Ice Bath 8. Red Light Sauna
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/crema_de_leche2
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/gracie-martinez-381a23176
