Tritons’ boys soccer coach Cardenas earns 500th win
One Cape Coral coach reached a milestone victory last week, recording his 500th win at the helm of a prominent program.
Mariner Tritons head soccer coach Martin Cardenas wasn’t aware of the number heading into last Friday’s match against North Fort Myers. After an 8-0 district semifinal win, Cardenas was expecting the usual postgame affairs; a handshake, talking with his team. All of a sudden, Mariner Athletic Director Steve Larsen revealed a belt, a la one a boxer or wrestler would adorn.
The belt signified Cardenas’ historic achievement: 500 wins as the head coach of the Tritons boys soccer team, a position he’s held for 32 years. Cardenas is the only coach at Mariner to ever attain this level of success.
“It was a really cool moment,” Cardenas said of the postgame events, adding that he discovered his family kept the secret of his 500th win under wraps for weeks heading into the game. “We had just won the game and were heading back into the fieldhouse to talk about (the next day), and I see them coming over, and the boys were gathering around. And when I saw it, I said, ‘Oh! OK.’ It was really a surprise. I wasn’t really thinking of that number at all. And I don’t dwell on it.”
If Cardenas is one thing, it’s consistent, and that’s something he tries to pass down to his players. When he was hired as the Mariner head coach more than three decades ago, his commitment has never wavered.
“I see that a lot in other sports, like football, there’s a high turnover rate of coaches, so it’s hard to have consistency in a program,” Cardenas said. “I’m not a jumper. I’m not a guy that switches, and I’ve always been that. I’m a creature of habit. When I got hired at Mariner in 1993, my intentions were not to go anywhere.”
Of the impact Cardenas has had, Larsen said, “The 500 wins are significant not because of the number of wins per se, but the volume of time and energy he has been able to pour into our student-athletes because of his longevity is what’s amazing. The impact he has made inside the classroom and out, a number cannot be attached to that.”
The year before he was hired at Mariner, Cardenas had an internship at Estero, which wanted to hire him the following year, as they didn’t have a current spot open on the staff.
“I drive out to Mariner, walk in the office, (then-principal Mike McNearney) walks out of his office, gives me a hug, walks me around, and introduces me to people,” Cardenas recalled. “I get home and I tell my wife, ‘I just got hired for two jobs. I got hired to teach art and coach soccer, and no one ever saw my resume.'”
McNearney told Cardenas he knew what kind of person he was, and was the right fit for the position.
More than just coaching soccer, Cardenas has helped shape the character and minds of hundreds of young men that have come through Mariner. His favorite part of being a coach and teacher? The friendships.
“To this day, I’m very good friends with guys that I coached back in the early ’90s,” he said. “Just a number of guys, we became friends. Not so much through the field, but outside the field. That’s probably the best part of what I’ve done at Mariner, is develop friendships. Whether it’s here on the soccer field, or if they decide to take up another sport.”
Over 32 seasons and 500 wins, there are a few moments that stick out in Cardenas’ mind.
He remembered one match at Estero where a player broke his collar bone. After calling 9-1-1, they were told all of the ambulances in the area were out on call. So what do they do? Send a helicopter.
“Lee Health sends a helicopter to pick him up in the middle of the field. And I was like, ‘Wow. A helicopter for a broken collarbone?'”
Other highlights include a trip to the state championship in 2020, and a victory against St. Thomas Aquinas in 2003 at home.
“That was just a huge moment for our program,” Cardenas said.
When asked what about his coaching style has made his teams successful, Cardenas said the ability to adapt.
“(Former players) would say, ‘You’re such a hard ass,’ or ‘You used to make us run for everything.’ Kids are different nowadays,” Cardenas said. “I feel like I have a large number of kids that leave our program because they don’t quite get my coaching style. I try to do my best to be understanding and adapt. And the ones that stick around, I know they have a mental toughness that I like. Besides physical toughness, I think being mentally tough is probably the thing that I look for the most. I don’t care about your soccer background. I didn’t start playing soccer until I was in seventh grade.
“We play every formation. Every team is different. And I take a lot of input from our players and what they think. This year we’re playing a four-four-two because our two team captains felt it was the best thing for us — so let’s go for it. Obviously with the formation there’s things that must be done.”
Cardenas already has plans for how he’s going to display the belt, recalling a story from when he was younger.
“I was giving it some thought, and I remember my uncle hanging a big rattlesnake skin when I was a kid,” he said. “We used to work in the fields in Immokalee, and we’re going to work, and we’re in the back of a pickup truck. And he hits the breaks and gets out. Next thing you know he throws this (dead) rattlesnake in the back of the truck with us. It was massive. And he (eventually) put it on this board.
“I’m thinking I’ll get myself a nice wooden board and engrave it with some tools.”
While Cardenas said he’s not making too much of a deal about win 500, he’s certainly taken some time to reflect, and has pride in what that number represents.
“I’m very proud of what we have accomplished,” Cardenas said. “I told the boys…it’s not me. I didn’t win 500 games. It’s my players, my teams. I told them they are part of the reason this number happened.
“I think it’s a milestone for any coach in any sport. I’m very happy I got to live to do it. I thank God for all of his blessings on me and my family. To me, I wish I could coach for another 500.”
As for what the future holds, Cardenas said it’s all about that feeling he gets when he wakes up in the morning.
“I’ve always taken the mental approach that, when I get up in the morning, I go to work, I whistle, I smile, I laugh,” he said. “When I go to practice, I put my cleats on every day and want to be out there. The day I feel that I don’t want to do those things, is probably going to be it. Right now, I’m just enjoying it.”