Cardinal Gibbons' Martin Selected For USA Volleyball National Training Team

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Cardinal Gibbons sophomore JT Martin is one of the nation's top 24 players selected by USA Volleyball for the 2016 Boys' Youth National Training Team.

Martin, 16, a 6-foot-7 middle blocker, is the only player from Florida and the southeast United States to be chosen. He will attend a 10-day training camp in southern California in mid-June.

The under-19 roster will be trimmed to a travel team that will compete in the June 22-29 NORCECA (North America, Central America Caribbean) Continental Championship. The event is a qualifier for the 2017 FIVB Under-19 World Championship.

"I was extremely excited when I found out," Martin said. "My parents weren't home so I got excited with my sister and then called my coach."

Martin's sister, Sarah, was the Broward County Girls Volleyball Player of the Year and is headed to James Madison University this fall. His high school and club coach is Mike Zarate.

Martin qualified for the national training team the day before Florida Fest at the Broward County Convention Center, where his club team Ocean Bay 17 Quiksilver qualified for nationals.

"I went into the tryout without a lot of expectations or desire since it was my first time trying out for the USA High-Performance team," Martin said. "I played to the best of my abilities and as well as I could. It was awesome just to get the opportunity."

Martin only started playing the sport his freshman year. He played on the Chiefs junior varsity basketball team but gave up basketball to play volleyball full-time.

"I played basketball my whole life," Martin said. "Once I got into volleyball I kept going. It's just been awesome. It's one of those things where I watched my sister play and been open to every person with more experience giving me tips and advice. I take what I can and learn from it."

Players from USA Volleyball's Southern California Region dominates the training team with 12. There are four from Northern California, three from Western Empire and one each from Chesapeake, Ohio, Great Lakes, Keystone and Florida.

"Right now I am going to take as much as I can from this experience and learn from it," Martin said. "It's still kind of shocking this happened to get the chance to travel and play with the best in the country. It is insane and unbelievable I've been chosen out of all the players in Florida to play," Martin said. "It will only help me get better day by day."

The U.S. coaching staff is pleased with the talented group that was selected.

"In the end, we chose the 24 young men we felt would give us the best mix of athleticism, ball control and volleyball IQ," said Princeton men's volleyball coach Sam Shweisky, who will serve as head coach of the Boys' Youth National Team.

"It is an impressive list with so much talent at every position, picking the final 12 will be extremely difficult."

Martin and his Cardinal Gibbons teammates will play Pine Crest for the District 9 title Thursday at host St. Thomas Aquinas at 6 p.m.

The Chiefs (18-7) advanced with a 25-8, 25-16- 25-11 victory over South Plantation. Martin had 14 kills, 3 blocks and 2 digs. Last week in a three-set win over Boca Raton, Martin had 13 kills, 10 points, eight blocks and five digs.

"It's been a lot of fun this year, it has been a good year," Martin said. "We're excited to see how far we can go this year. I don't think Coach Mike ever says it's a rebuilding year. I don't think anyone from our team has the mindset of being okay with losing."

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

St. Thomas Aquinas 6-foot-1 junior outside hitter Brook Bauer and partner Madison Fitzpatrick finished ninth in the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball season-opening tournament in New Orleans. The pair totaled 150 points. Bauer competed in two AVP Next tournaments in 2015 in Siesta Key and Fort Lauderdale. For the nationally-ranked four-time state champion Raiders (30-2), Bauer led the team with 286 kills, 200 digs and 45 aces.