A Steinbach athlete gives high praise to his friends, family and coaches for supporting his volleyball career.

Kyle Martens is a teacher in the Hanover School Division, and is a graduating libero with the University of Manitoba Men's Volleyball Team, which recently hosted the U Sports National Volleyball Championship.

His Bisons team went into the weekend ranked 8th and finished the season with a great fight, landing in 6th place, almost capturing the fifth-place finish.

During his time at the Steinbach Regional Secondary School, Martens, who stands at 5’11”, says he was blessed to play volleyball with many of his friends, who encouraged him and pushed him to keep working hard.

“I was really blessed to have a group of friends that was really good at volleyball growing up, and I know that's hard to come by sometimes,” he says. “We really had a talented group, and they were my best friends, and we went up through junior high and high school together. And to be surrounded by friends and doing something you have fun doing, it's all you can ask for growing up.”

The comradery played a key role in keeping his interest in the sport, he says.

“That really helped and that kept me in the sport. Just the social aspect of it really. And I've always been a competitive guy and to have the competition plus doing that with your best friends is awesome.”

Martens looks back fondly at his time with the SRSS team and believes they played a key role in helping him get the opportunity to play at university level.

“We were able to compete at high level through high school and winning the provincial championship my grade 12 year. And then I was able to play Junior Bisons because of the experience I had with that group of friends.”

During his last two years in high school, Martens was able to play Club volleyball in Winnipeg and gained confidence while improving his skills.

“Having coaches believe in me all the way up, and I'm not the tallest guy, but they believed in my skill sets and it's paid off.”

Martens calls the experience of playing in the National Volleyball Championship “surreal.”

“I never thought I was going to last one or two years here, and I'm here for my 7th.”

He says there are many people to thank for supporting him through the years of training, practices and games. Martens says it was great to have his wife Alex as his #1 fan.

“She’s been to all the games and wouldn’t miss them for the world.”

He also expresses gratitude for family, as well as the coaches and teammates he worked with over the years.