Youth

Out of Africa and into the net

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Last Updated on Thursday, 13 December 2012 18:07

By Peter Knutson
Let’s Play Hockey

It is not every day you have a girl from Africa on your hockey team. The Minneapolis 12U B Storm got more than they could ask for when Liberia native Martu Zibinski signed up to play hockey this season.

Martu and her brother were adopted from Liberia five years ago and have been living with their family in Minnesota since. They had never been to the United States before their adoption.

“The biggest challenge when I moved here was helping my brother communicate with everyone,” Martu said. “I spoke English and he did not. We had never been to the United States before and it was a very different place. The day we got here there was a huge snowstorm and there were a lot of car crashes.” 

Martu is now in seventh grade at Sanford Middle School and lives a very busy teenage life. She is involved in many sports – track, baseball, softball, soccer and gymnastics. She is also involved in the school band where she plays the saxophone. As if these extracurricular activities weren’t enough, she recently decided to give hockey a shot.

“Both my brothers played goalie,” Martu said. “I would go to their games and watch them and I always wanted to try it. It looked like a lot of fun.”

Hockey rinks are hard to come by in Africa. With fewer than 100 rinks throughout the entire continent, very few Africans are able to play in their home countries. In Martu’s home country of Liberia, there are no rinks. The closest one is over 1,000 miles away in Nigeria, but this didn’t stop her from trying a new sport once she came to Minnesota.

Martu stepped onto the ice for the first time in September. She started off as a forward before being moved around to try all other positions. There are only 14 skaters on the team and no goalie, so the girls switched off playing goalie. That is, until Martu tried it.

About a month ago, coach Dan Brooks, son of legendary coach Herb Brooks, saw something that caught his eye.

“I was watching Martu during warm-ups on the ice and I saw her doing the full-on splits. Not the forward-backwards splits, the full side-to-side kind. I was blown away and thought she should try goalie. The rest is history.

“She has been a rock star in net for our team the last month. She is making saves that are unbelievable and keeping us in games. In a recent game, she did the full butterfly splits with both skates on opposite pipes. The other team’s coaches came up to me after and said, ‘Where did you get this goalie?’ I think she has a future if she sticks with it. She is an incredible athlete, is very competitive, has great natural ability and is just an all-around awesome person.”

Martu is up for the challenge.

“I really like playing and would love to keep playing in the future. It is definitely my favorite sport and I can play with my brothers.”

Two weeks ago the team notched its first win. It came in shutout fashion, of course with Martu in net.

Goalie coach Jack Duffy was also impressed when he saw Martu between the pipes.

“She is picking up the position faster than most. I’m not surprised because she is a very smart player. She is a very dedicated and a hard-working athlete. Every time I talk to her she looks me right in the eye and listens. She is a real pleasure to work with. If she keeps up at this rate, the sky is the limit for her.”

While the future is bright for Martu, for now she is just enjoying being a normal kid, having some fun and playing some hockey.