The 31-year-old veteran called his parents, Anne and Ray, in Gloucester on Saturday to tell them he had finally made the cut, but the conversation didn’t go as planned.

“I haven’t really spoken to Mum, or haven’t heard any words from Mum, because when I called her to tell her she just burst into tears and cried the whole conversation. But I assume she’s happy for me,” Martin told theNewcastle Herald after the 12-man Boomers squad was announced publicly on Monday morning.

“That initial moment when you find out is amazing, but then your mind turns to, ‘I can’t wait to tell Mum and Dad. I can’t wait to tell my wife.’ And hearing their reactions is just as special, if not more, than actually finding out you’re in the team.”

Martin grew up in Gloucester and played for the Lake Macquarie Lightning under-16s and Newcastle Hunters under-18s before his basketball career took him to the AIS in Canberra, then to Sydney and Perth.

He captained the Australian under-19 team to gold at the 2003 world championships in Greece, a tournament where a young Andrew Bogut was named most valuable player.

He has been at the Perth Wildcats since 2009, winning five consecutive National Basketball League defensive player of the year awards and two NBL titles.

Martin was cut in the final selection round for the London Olympics four years ago but is now bound for Rio with the likes of NBA stars Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.

“To get so close with the London Olympics, having to get cut right at the last hurdle, I thought looking ahead I’m going to be too old for Rio, particularly with Dellavedova, Mills – all these guys are younger, more talented players,” Martin said.

“So I turned all my focus to the Wildcats, but still managed to be part of the Boomers squad last off-season, and that kind of re-lit the desire to be an Olympian, which has always been my lifelong goal, ever since watching the Barcelona Olympics.”

Martin said finding out from coach Andrej Lemanis that he had made the squad was “one of the most special moments of my life”.

“Each player had 10 minutes allocated to go and have a meeting with the three coaches, Luc Longley, Trevor Gleeson and Andrej Lemanis.

“I was pacing back and forth waiting for my meeting, and Luc Longley was the one who opened the door, and he didn’t make eye contact with me, so I thought, ‘Oh, this is not going well.’

“And then I walked in and the coaches actually set me up a little bit. They made it sound like I was about to get cut, so in my head I was like, ‘OK, get up, shake their hands, wish them the best of luck and get out of there.’

“And then Andrej ended up saying, ‘But I’m going to take you to Rio.’ It took a second for the words to make sense, and then Luc Longley, seven foot, 240 kilos, he was the closest coach to me, and I just turned and it felt like I just picked him up out of his chair and gave him a big bear hug.”

The story of Martin’s junior career is, typically, one of sacrifice on the part of his parents.

“Mum and Dad had five kids in six years, so Mum was busy taking care of us, and then Dad would literally knock off work, work from 6am to about 5.30, 6pm, jump in a car and drive me to Newcastle twice a week just to get me to training, and then again on weekends.

“When you’re growing up you’re selfish and you don’t realise the sacrifice your parents are making. Then when you hear your name called out for an Olympics at 31 years of age you know a lot of that comes back to those days and that commitment your parents were willing to make.”

The former Gloucester High student said he identified strongly with the Hunter and had many friends living in Newcastle.

“I’m a Gloucester boy through and through, and I was lucky enough to spend a year playing for the Newcastle Hunters and another year with the Lake Macquarie Lightning, so the Hunter Valley holds a special place in my heart,” he said.

“I like to keep an eye on how some of the juniors are doing, and in particular Ben Simmons. 

“I’m not sure if he remembers this, but I was playing for the NSW state team with his step-brother Liam, and after the tournament I paid for his Happy Meal at McDonald’s, so with inflation, with some interest, I’m hoping I can send him my account number after he signed his multimillion-dollar deal. He would have only been about four years old.

“I was absolutely rapt to see him go number one in the NBA draft and look forward to seeing him do some great things in the NBA. In the last two years he’s just taken his game to another level, and all the accolades that have come his way so far have been thoroughly deserved.

“I’m sure he’s not going to disappoint anyone, and he truly is a product of the Hunter Valley.”

Martin will be behind NBA millionaires Mills and Dellavedova on the Boomers’ guard rotation but expects to be used off the bench as a defensive specialist and “doing my best to get under the skin of the opposition”.

The Boomers leave next week for Argentina for two warm-up games before heading to Brazil. They will play eight games over the next 25 days before the Games tournament.