Player Profile: Izi Castro Marques

DREAM PLAYER PROFILE: IZI CASTRO MAQUES

At the age of 15, most teenagers have no clue what career path they want to pursue.  Not the case for Dream guard Izi Castro Marques, who left home at the age of 15 to play professional basketball in Sao Paulo.    

Castro Marques was born on the island of São Luís in Brazil.  She grew up surrounded by family, as her mother was one of eight children and her father was one of nine.  For Castro Marques, basketball started out as nothing more than a physical education requirement.  Luckily, her schoolteacher recognized the natural talent and immense potential of the skinny 12-year-old and the rest is history.   

After spending most of her early career in Sao Paulo, Castro Marques also played professionally in Spain because Brazil did not have a senior national team at the time.  At age 19, she led the Brazilian Paulista League in scoring.  The speedy guard capable of putting up points in a hurry caught the eye of the Miami Sol’s Director of Scouting, Marynell Meadors.

It was the beginning of a relationship between coach and athlete that would extend beyond either’s expectations.  In 2002 at the age of 20, Castro Marques signed with the Sol, becoming the youngest player in the WNBA.  Six years later, Castro Marques and Coach Meadors are reunited in Atlanta.  

“As soon as I heard she was the coach, I knew I was coming here,” Castro Marques said.  “We just had such a good relationship from the beginning.  Even after the team (Miami) folded, we never lost contact.”  

Castro Marques spent the last three seasons in Seattle, where she started every game for the Storm last season.  In Atlanta, Castro Marques is also reunited with two more familiar faces—Erika De Souza and Betty Lennox.  Castro Marques and De Souza have known each other for ten years and competed together on the Brazilian National Team during the 2004 Olympics.  Castro Marques and Lennox were teammates in both Miami and Seattle.   

Reflecting on her rookie season in the WNBA, Castro Marques remembers the mixture of emotions.  “I had never seen an arena like the ones in America,” she said.  “I was so overwhelmed and amazed how everything was so big.  I had never seen so many fans everywhere and all the support of the people behind the scenes of the organization.”  

It was a huge adjustment, mentally and physically.  The style of play in the WNBA was much more physical than what she was accustomed to in Brazil.  To complicate matters, Castro Marques was forced to miss a month of her rookie season due to a broken foot.  She spent one season in Phoenix in 2003 before settling in Seattle.  All these experiences were lessons for Castro Marques.  “I was only 20 when I entered the league, so I’ve changed a lot,” she said.  “I’m a lot more mature than I was at that age.  I’ve been through so many different situations that I’ve changed a lot.”

One thing that stays consistent is the smile.  Castro Marques describes herself as always laughing and smiling and just enjoying life.  She shares the same interests as most of her American teammates—watching movies, playing video games, dancing, and surfing the Internet.  When asked to describe herself on the court Castro Marques calls herself “focused” and a “hard-worker.”  She hesitates before adding “and mean!”  

The words are hardly out of her mouth before she bursts into laughter.