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By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Gerrell Martin feared the worst as a health scare put his senior season of basketball at Long Island University in jeopardy for six months.
The 6-foot-3 guard underwent extensive tests for a heart ailment after he fainted during a post-season workout in April and was struggling to keep up with the team on the court. Blackbirds coach Jack Perri said he was getting on him for his effort before Martin revealed he wasn’t feeling well.
Doctors told Martin a valve in his heart wasn’t getting enough blood pumped to it. The heart was losing power and he wasn’t getting enough oxygen to the heart.
Perri had already told Martin late last season that it would be his team this year, his time to lead. Martin said it took a toll on him wondering if that opportunity was going to be taken away.
Then good news finally arrived last week in the form of a text from Perri telling Martin he was cleared to play. No life-threating abnormality was found.
“It was just an unbelievable feeling,” Martin said. “I thanked God and I started crying. I’ve been through a lot. I’m blessed and thankful I can play this year.”
Doctors determined he had athletic heart syndrome, where the heart is enlarged, and the resting heart rate is lower than normal. Martin, who averaged 12.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game last year, was instructed to lower his stress levels. He admitted to dealing with anxiety, especially before practices and games. Now he is taking yoga classes regularly, and says it brought him a new calm and focus.
“It’s been helping me to relax,” Martin said. “I can see it in my game. Everything is much slower. I feel more loose, more relaxed.”
The process also brought him closer to his teammates, seven of whom are new this season. Martin said they supported him even when he was unable to play because his activates were restricted while doctors looked for answers. The team is glad to have him back.
“Thank God he has been cleared,” Perri said. “Now we can keep him focused on having the great senior year that he thought he wasn’t going to have.”
For Martin, that means leading both with his play and with his words. He said he is not afraid to go hoarse if it means getting a message across to his team. Long Island University is coming off an injury-plagued 9–20 season, a year after winning its third-straight Northeast Conference title.
Martin’s return and a group of talented newcomers have this year’s team believing it can get back to being a winning club. And its new leader knows a thing or two about putting adversity behind him.
“We just have to keep moving,” Martin said. “We have a good young group and I’m excited and I just love them.”