An hour after practice, Diego Martinez del Campo sat on a Nippert Stadium bleacher and looked out at the field.
“I’m extremely grateful,” Martinez del Campo said. “I’m in a very unique position and every day I wake up and have no problems going to work, because I know each day I’m learning from everyone. There’s always an opportunity to learn if you’re open to it.”
That statement sums up Martinez del Campo, FC Cincinnati’s Video Analyst.
As the club continues to grow and change, so has his role. But what hasn’t changed is his dedication to his work and commitment to growing as a technical staff member and as an all-around person.
Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Martinez del Campo’s path to this point is inspiring.
After attending high school in Spain, he left and enrolled at Northern Kentucky University with a soccer scholarship. While in school, he was an engaging student determined to learn and grow.
When he graduated last year, he received the 2017-18 Overall Outstanding Haile/US Bank College of Business Undergraduate Award – the highest honor the school bestows.
According to NKU, here’s the criteria of being nominated and receiving the award:
- In choosing the recipient, faculty nominate students who demonstrate outstanding academic performance, leadership in extracurricular activities, and high potential for future leadership in the individual’s professional life, among other things. Additionally, nominees must be sponsored by at least two faculty members from different disciplines.
“In my extensive interactions with Diego, he has always conducted himself with the upmost professionalism, humility, and gratefulness for the opportunity to study at NKU,” said Joe Cobbs, an Associate Professor in the Sports Business & Event Management Department at the time. “In my opinion, he is exactly the student we should all be supporting as best we can to ensure his continued success.”
Those are the traits that helped him get to FC Cincinnati.
One day in class, Martinez del Campo heard a guest lecture from Dan McNally, the club’s Vice President of Operations. The student made sure he left a good impression, and then again when McNally returned later.
“I just started knocking on his door all the time; just being on top of it,” Martinez said. “Eventually when an internship came up in operations, he brought me in and slowly but surely, I started working in operations and it was really good.”
His role changed gradually.
Soon, he started helping the coaching staff and players. During practice, he’d film for the coaches to review afterward. Instantly, he found a way for FCC to make training film more resourceful.
“I knew in the past, the sessions would be all filmed on an angle, so the camera was fixed and you would film at a diagonal angle,” Martinez said. “Really, you can’t get the best view. Something in my mind told me I want to see everything rectangular, everything square, everything perfectly organized.
“So, if they were on one side of the pitch, I would move the camera and go film there. I could move the camera, and eventually we started looking into more options."
Eventually, when the club was looking for more options to better utilize film, Martinez del Campo suggested a drone to film training. Head Coach Alan Koch told President and General Manager Jeff Berding about the idea, and a drone arrived a week later.
After taking courses and studying for the exam to earn his drone license, he put the technology to use.
“The angle you can get from the drone is the best,” Martinez said. There’s nothing better. You can get in behind the center backs, you can get in behind the backline, you can get a good angle and get a bird’s eye view. You can get whatever you want.”
Once he has the footage, he dissects the info and clips it to extract the essential portions of training. Sometimes that means focusing on the entire team; other times focus rests on a certain player or position group.
The innovative idea – and attention to detail – allows FC Cincinnati to compile better information about the team and how it can improve. That, combined with film from scouting opponents and making the information digestible to players and the coaching staff, has made Martinez del Campo an integral part of the club and its on-field success.
“Diego is invaluable to us,” Koch said. “His resourcefulness – last year working on video for us and being creative in terms of recommending that we try to get a drone to film our session, and how he goes about our analysis of our games and oppositions –has been absolutely first class. He’s an invaluable member of our coaching staff.”
This isn’t something Martinez del Campo takes for granted.
Just as his collegiate award for success and excellence identified his hard work ethic, his ability to adapt to different roles at FC Cincinnati – and make the club better in return – is impressive and essential for the first-year MLS side.
“I’m very grateful,” Martinez del Campo said. “It’s a great opportunity to be honest and I’m very happy to be part of something that’s so special. You see the fans and the support and how the club has risen, how the city has too.
“I’ve been here five years now and Cincinnati wasn’t the same five years ago from what it is now. Seeing the growth of the city, I also have that growth and connection with the city and that feeling of being part of something so special is very exciting and obviously very motivating.”
Martinez del Campo has lived around the world. Now in Cincinnati, he’s home and giving back to the club and city that offered him an opportunity. It’s an impact that’s easy to see.
