Steve Martin

"I love kids," he said simply. "I really do."

Martin, 43, the divorced father of a seven-year-old son and a resident of Pinecrest's Sunrise Point, volunteers as much of his time as possible to serve as an assistant coach in area youth leagues. He has coached soccer for the last four years and is an assistant baseball coach this season in the Howard Palmetto Khoury League. He says his son Sean, a second grader at Coral Reef Elementary School, is the primary reason for his coaching endeavors.

"He's on all my teams," he said with an easy smile. "I mean that's part of the reason I like doing this."
Martin recalled the first year Sean began playing in the YMCA soccer league.

"Ron Keller was the coach," he said. "I told Ron, 'If you need help, I'm up for it.'"
A couple of days later, Keller called and asked Martin if he could give him a hand coaching the youngsters. The two formed a bond and have been coaching together ever since.

"He and I click as two people, we really have a good relationship," Martin said. "Not just with ourselves, but with the kids and everything. Our teams always fill up fast."

Martin said the kids really enjoy playing for the teams he and Keller coach because of their laid-back philosophy.

"We're not all for that 'win-win' thing," Martin explained. "We tell the kids all the time, if you just try hard -- try your hardest and have fun, whether it's in school, at home, on the baseball field, football field, soccer field, you just try hard -- then, regardless of what the outcome of the game is, you've won and you're going to grow up being a winner."

Martin was born in upstate New York in the steel town of Lackawanna. He came to South Florida when he was nine years old in 1969, attended Miami Shores Elementary School and North Miami Junior High, then graduated North Miami Senior High in 1975. He joined the Air Force on a four-year hitch, trained to become a firefighter and was stationed in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

"When I went in," he recalled, "I wanted to get into a career field that I could do something with when I got out of the service. And, firefighting seemed like a pretty good deal."

Upon his discharge, he returned to South Florida and was hired by the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as a firefighter, a position he has held for 17 years. He works as an alternate driver for the fire engine and crash trucks.

"I like it," he said. "And the hours are really good, too; 24 hours on duty and 48 off, which is perfect for me, because I do a lot of coaching."

This season, Martin is assistant baseball coach to Randy Yackee for the Phillies in the Howard Palmetto Khoury League Atom I National Division. Martin says Yackee is a carbon copy of Keller.

"We have the same coaching philosophy in baseball as Ron and I do in soccer," said Martin. "That's why it's so much fun. I coached last year in another league with another guy who didn't have the same philosophy and it wasn't as much fun. It's really important to click with the person you're coaching with."

Martin also is an active member of Kendall United Methodist Church, where he is involved with the youth program, teaches a Sunday school class for high school boys and girls, and mentors a discussion class for boys on Wednesday evenings.

"We just sit around and talk," Martin said. "We talk about the things that are bothering them, any happiness that happened in their life during the week, or anything they need to talk about. I tell the kids that God has a purpose for everything. I tell them don't get down on anything because everything will be alright in the long run. Things may seem gloomy, but later on down the road the sun is going to be shining and everything is just fine."