From the Arctic to the Sun City; football player from Alaska finds success on the field & classroom

EL PASO, Texas - Jorge Martinez fell in love with the sport of football at an early age.

He grew up playing the sport not in El Paso, but way up north in the state of Alaska.

Martinez decided if he wanted to keep growing in the sport Texas was the place to be, so he enrolled at Chapin High School in northeast El Paso.

"There's only like four big high schools there (Alaska)," Martinez said. "So I came here for the magnet school, and then to play football. There's definitely way more opportunities here."

Martinez's dad is from El Paso, and also played football at Chapin.

Martinez packed his bags, flew to El Paso and is currently living with his grandparents on his father's side.

"It was definitely a huge sacrifice leaving my whole family in Alaska," Martinez said. "But to come here to play football and academics, I just wanted something bigger in my life."

Martinez is a junior and started at center for the Chapin Huskies this past season.

His goal is to play football in college.

He still has one more season of high school football left, and he plans to make the most it even if it means being far from home.