martin began curling when he was six years old. he took up the sport because his father was the vice president of his local curling club. martin first came on the curling scene in 1985 when his alberta team of richard feeney, dan petryk and michael berger won the 1985 canadian junior championship in their first year together as a team. the rink (a group of players) finished the round robin in second place, with a win-loss record of 7–4, behind prince edward island's kent scales. this forced them into a semifinal against the third place quebec rink, skipped by steve gagnon. they beat quebec 5–4, earning a spot in the final against prince edward island which they won with a score of 6–3. after winning the championship, he accompanied the canadian team as an alternate at the 1985 world junior curling championships.