Even for a city with a large number of remarkable teens, Jillian Martinez stands out.

While they focus on graduation and their next stop, the 14-year-old home-schooled Martinez is juggling multiple timelines at once.

And she’s doing so with poise, focus and a talented pair of feet.

Martinez, who took up soccer seriously six years ago, is now one of the nation’s best teen female players.

Don’t take my word for it.

She spends a couple of hours every day chatting with college soccer coaches across the country.

Name a D-I women’s soccer school and it’s recruiting her. Texas. West Coast. East Coast. Northwest. Southeast. Midwest.

They do so, as NCAA rules state, through messages sent to her club coach, and then through phone calls she initiates three times daily.

Martinez is looking for a college with a good medical school because, as you might have guessed, she’s an honor student, and wants to be a doctor.

For now, the whole college recruitment process is slightly overwhelming, but she likes being wanted.

“I’m definitely enjoying it,” she said. “But it’s crazy that I’m already thinking about my college, and I’ve still got three years left of high school.”

Her father, Larry Martinez, was on the 1987 Alamo Heights boys soccer team that won a state title. He played in college, and then when Jillian was old enough to walk, he put her on the field.

She hated it and dropped out of the beautiful game. She focused instead on basketball, volleyball, and tee-ball.

When she turned 8, she came back to soccer and did very well.

How well? She was on a select club team by the time she turned 10. She progressed so quickly, she outgrew San Antonio soccer instruction, ending up with the Lone Star Soccer Club in Austin, a nationally recognized program that’s part of a feeder system for U.S. Soccer’s official development program.

Martinez is a midfielder. As such, she controls the flow of the team’s offensive game.

“It’s like they say: I’m ‘dancing with the ball’ a lot,” she said. “I have to be creative. I like to score, but I also like getting the ball to the other girls so they can score.”

In late December, Martinez flew home from the under-14 girls national team training camp in Boca Raton, Florida. That’s “national team,” as in America’s best young teen girls, organized and supervised by U.S. Soccer, the nation’s ruling body for the sport.

Don’t let the age group of that camp fool you. When Martinez was 13, she played with older girls on the under-15 girls national team.

The December venture was her sixth national team camp. Martinez travels so often, and she’s so mature for her age, her parents allow her to fly cross country by herself.

She cannot, however, drive. So three afternoons a week, one of Martinez’s parents will chauffeur her to Austin for practice.

If you’re reading this and haven’t concluded that Martinez is a soccer prodigy and a wunderkind of the beautiful game, read it again. And read on.

Wesley Schevers, Lone Star’s girls national league program director, and her team coach, marvels at Martinez.

Stellar athletes are sometimes exposed by their lack of worth ethic. That is not the case with Martinez, Schevers said.

“She’s brilliant, she’s humble, she’s well-spoken and articulate,” Schevers said. “And she’s got a level of commitment to everything she does.”

Her hard work, Schevers said, has given Martinez her opportunities.

And she’s going to town with it.

“She’s very creative,” Schevers said. “Whether she’s trying to dribble and beat an opponent with her feet or moving without the ball, she’s incredible. Her passing, long and short … it’s completely next level.”

Schevers is expected to be biased, but he’s not alone.

Although Martinez is still 14, her tenure with the under-15 team is over.

Next stop: the under-16 team, where she will once again be playing with older girls.

She is being fast-tracked for success.

With a few more years of hard work, Martinez could join the very small pool of players who will vie for spots on the U.S. women’s national team, which plays in the Olympics and World Cup.

If you’re a soccer fan, you will soon see Martinez on a world stage near you.

If you’re not a fan, don’t be surprised to see her and her teammates, in the not-so-distant future, standing on a dais and receiving gold medals.

rbragg@express-news.net

Twitter: @roybragg