By Tyler Maheu, Staff Sportswriter
Fourteen-year-old basketball phenom Paula Cortijo Martin came to Woodstock in August, leaving behind her home in Madrid in hopes of improving her English and exploring a culture other than her own. She returned to Spain this past month with a bevy of lifelong friends and memories.
Born and raised in Madrid to parents Jose and Emma Cortijo Martin, Paula chose to come to Woodstock with intention. “I wanted to go to a place without a lot of Spanish people, so I couldn’t talk in my own language,” she explained. She said she chose Woodstock because it was a small town outside of the United States’ big cities.
“At first, it was a little scary,” said her mom, Emma Cortijo Martin. “Paula wanted to go very strongly, so she was convinced that she wanted to live this experience, meet new people, and improve the English language.” Knowing her daughter’s conviction on coming to the States made the decision much easier for the family.
Another nerve calmer was Cortijo Martin’s host family in Woodstock, the Careys. “Since the first moment, she felt so comfortable with the host family,” she said. “When your kid is fine, is happy, and comfortable, it’s easier for us. Knowing she was having a good time was easier; it was worth it on all levels. Of course, we missed her, but the Carey family was key for us.”
“We were sort of recruited,” said Joel Carey, assistant football and basketball coach at Woodstock. “Knowing that Paula was coming from a pretty big basketball program, she wanted to make sure that the host family was conducive to bringing her to the gym when she didn’t have stuff to do.” He continued, “Me being a coach for football here, coaching basketball, and my wife [Kim Carey] being a nurse that works here, they sort of reached out to us. I don’t even know that they had other options.”
Left: Cortijo Martin gets into a defensive stance during a December matchup at WUHS. Tyler Maheu Photo Center: Paula is shown in her team uniform in Spain. Right: Cortijo Martin is pictured playing basketball for her team in Spain. Courtesy of the Cortijo Martin Family
“The family experience was great,” said Cortijo Martin. “I really like the Carey family. They helped me establish relationships easier, they tried to show me everything in Woodstock so I can feel at home.”
Cortijo Martin’s aforementioned basketball prowess made waves in Woodstock. In Spain, the 14-year-old plays on Colegio Alameda de Osuna’s Under 18 team in the Community of Madrid league. In the 2022-2023 league season, she led her squad to the U12 championship while being voted the Most Valuable Player and scoring 16.4 points per game.
In 2023-2024, she competed in the U14 league, but also made the jump to U18, becoming the youngest player in that league. There, she was selected to their all-star game, won the league’s three-point competition, and earned a First-Team All-League selection. She also led the U14 Community of Madrid league in scoring, at 19.1 points per game.
She continued her leveling up in 2024-2025, competing in both the U14 and U16 leagues, excelling in both. “Playing with my friends is the most interesting part, I think,” she said of what she loves about basketball. “Meeting new people from other teams and starting relationships with them is fun.”
Stateside, the Carey family got Paula signed up for competition in the American Athletic Union (AAU), playing for Lebanon, New Hampshire’s Lady Rebels. She also competed in the Woodstock Wasps’ first four games of the year, where she led the team in scoring and to a 4-0 record under Joel Carey and head coach Timmy MacDonnell.
“It was fun,” said MacDonnell of Paula’s time with the team. “When you coach an athlete and a player that has that level of intensity, it’s elevating because they want to be pushed. She raises the bar because she’s going to play hard and drags kids along with her because that’s how we’re going to do things. She brought that, and it was fun to be around.”
Joel Carey echoed this sentiment, noting that her playstyle and level of competitiveness improved the Woodstock girls, including his freshman daughter, Willow. “She shows up with a phenomenal skill level. European basketball, that’s what they do, it’s all skill level from tiny little babies until they’re able to play in games,” he said. “For her to have the confidence that she had with all the abilities she had, it obviously made us a better team. It freed some of our better players to do the things that they’re good at. It showed our girls a level of competitive play that they’re not used to seeing. It showed them that hard work pays off. She would bring it every day in practice.”
Arriving in Woodstock in August, Cortijo Martin’s first culture shock came from the size of the Carey family. “Paula is our only girl,” said Jose Cortijo Martin of his only child. “It was very important for her to live with other brothers and sisters like the Careys.”
“We’ve got a big family in our house,” said Joel Carey. “We’ve got three kids as well, and they bring a lot of friends over. So I think it was more of an experience for her to be around other people.” He joked that sometimes she would come downstairs, shocked at the number of people in the home.
“It was really cool,” said Kim Carey. “She is a super outgoing kid, and we’re a loud sports-oriented family. She had no siblings, had never had animals before, and we had a cat, dogs, and our three young kids. She was open to it all and fit in seamlessly.”
Next for Cortijo Martin was school, which she says was very different from her private school in Madrid. “A lot of things are completely different,” she said. “In Madrid, at school, you only have your class and don’t mix with other people of other ages. Here, you rotate with your class, that’s the main difference.”
She praised the help of Woodstock’s teachers and other students for their help in teaching her the ropes, including Willow Carey, who Kim Carey said acted as a big sister to the Spaniard. “Willow, our freshman, did a great job of integrating her in, making sure she met all of her friends,” she said. “The girls in the freshman class are all pretty tight. They were super inclusive of her. She really enjoyed the friendships.”
Cortijo Martin agreed and stated that the friends she made are here to stay. “The experience if you have friends is really nice,” she said. “I’m really grateful that I have a lot of friends there. I’m actually still talking to them. Right now they’re a part of me.”
Outside of school and basketball, Cortijo Martin was given “the Vermont experience,” said Joel Carey, as the family took her to see some of the state’s sights, and most importantly to her, helped her enjoy the snow. According to Cortijo Martin, the only time she had seen snow in Madrid was around five years ago, and it was a small amount. “It was amazing,” she said with a smile. “Seeing the snow, the big amount of snow, I was so surprised. I had never seen that before.” She then recalled her first time sledding, where she got stuck on the driveway. “It was my first time, so it was terrible,” she laughed.”
Cortijo Martin was also interested in how Americans celebrated holidays, Halloween and Christmas in particular. “We took her to see Christmas lights,” said Kim Carey.
Finally, after four months, it was time for Cortijo Martin to go home. A process, according to Kim Carey, that was incredibly difficult for the teenager and family alike. “Dropping her off at the airport, I felt like I was putting one of my own children on the plane,” said her host mother. “She kept looking back, sobbing. I was sobbing. By the end, it was like she was a part of our family.”
“I will give you a secret,” said Emma Cortijo Martin. “She wanted to stay there a little longer.”
Now home, Cortijo Martin and her parents have time to reflect on the impact of her journey to Vermont. “I think it is key for her, this experience,” said Emma Cortijo Martin. “In the end, it’s a way to understand other cultures, other places, to get out of your comfort zone. I think it’s a life experience. It’s something at this age of 14, I’m sure she will not forget, she will never forget about her host family, the friends she made there,” she concluded, stating that this experience will stay with her daughter forever.
“It was really special, it gave me a lot of new learning,” said Cortijo Martin. “I learned a lot of things, like other cultures and lifestyles. It was new, I really liked it, and I learned new things.”
Cortijo Martin now sets her sights on the rest of her season in Madrid, playing for the Colegio Alameda de Osuna U18 squad, and on her goals down the line, which include a return to the United States. “I would like to go to NCAA basketball, D1,” she said with determination. “Only D1,” said her father with a smile.
