The Dalhousie Tigers - Dalhousie University

A native of Burlington, Ontario, Terry Martin grew up playing basketball and downhill skiing. He played just one season of volleyball with the West Side Volleyball Club in his last year of high school before deciding to pen a letter to then head coach Al Scott to ask if he could try out for the team. 

“After I received Terry’s letter and found out how tall he was, we started to have some conversations and he sent me some video,” says Scott. “The video wasn’t all that great, and he was very goofy-footed but I invited him to come tryout and see how things go.” 

Terry arrived in Halifax in the fall of 1994 to try out for the team and begin his studies in the Faculty of Science. Coach Scott gave him some feedback early on to correct his footwork and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly he made the corrections. 

“It was remarkable how quickly he took the direction and developed in such a short amount of time,” adds Scott. “Simply amazing.” 

Amazing might be an understatement to describe the start of his four years at Dalhousie. The 6’8 middle blocker had an amazing season in his rookie year earning conference and national honours. An AUAA first team all-star, Terry was also named both the AUAA and CIAU rookie of the year after helping the Tigers to a conference championship title and a bronze medal at the national championship. At Dalhousie’s year-end awards night, he was named the Tigers male rookie of the year. 

He continued to shine in his sophomore season, earning his second consecutive conference all-star nod while helping to lead the Tigers to another conference championship win and a fifth-place finish at nationals. 

Terry was a force to be reckoned with during the 1996-97 season – his third at Dalhousie. The AUAA MVP, he was also named an AUAA first team all-star and was selected to the championship all-star team after helping lead the Tigers to another conference title. A CIAU first team All-Canadian, Terry was named to the championship all-star team after leading the Tigers to a silver medal finish. 

The team’s co-MVP that year, he received the Climo Award as Dalhousie’s male athlete of the year. 

In his fourth and final season, Terry was named a CIAU first team all-star for the second-consecutive year after repeating as the AUAA MVP and a first team all-star. He was again named a championship all-star when the Tigers repeated as AUAA champions. He was also named to the CIAU championship all-star team after leading the Tigers to a fifth-place finish. The team’s co-MVP, he was also named Dalhousie’s co-male athlete of the year to cap off his university career. 

During and after his time with the Tigers, Terry was also a member of Volleyball Canada’s senior men’s team. In his 10 years with the national team, he represented Canada at the World University Games in Sicily in 1997 and played in three FIVB world championships and three World Cup events. 

Terry went on to enjoy a 13-year professional career in Europe competing in France, Italy, Puerto Rico, Russia, Poland, Cyprus and Qatar.