Hewlett honors a humble athlete

A memory was captured in a 2005 photograph taken by his father Jack Seibald. Max Seibald is with three other senior Hewlett varsity lacrosse teammates and friends: Dom DeNapoli, Jon Baron and Dan Goldberg. It was the year the Bulldogs had an undefeated season and won a first-ever conference championship and county title.

Nearly seven years later, after being a two-time high school All-American, a Tewaaraton Trophy winner in college, a world champion and playing professionally in two leagues, Max Seibald was honored with induction into the Hewlett-Woodmere Athletic Hall of Fame during a halftime ceremony on April 18, attended by some of those same friends.

“It’s unbelievable for me, I am extremely humble to come back and be given this award,” Seibald said before the game between Hewlett and Southside began (Bulldogs won 8-6). “To have some my friends here to share this with me; those are the guys who made the experience and allowed me to achieve success.”

Seibald played four sports as a varsity athlete at Hewlett and excelled in everyone: football, soccer, winter and lacrosse, especially lacrosse.

“He’s the whole package,” said Hewlett varsity lacrosse coach Chris Passuello, who guided the title team. “He is everything any coach could possibly want. He’s a better person than he is a player. Everybody who plays with him or teaches him wants to work harder because you don’t want to let him down.

Passuello compared Seibald to football phenom Tim Tebow. When reminded that Seibald came before Tebow, the coach said: “I think Tebow is a Max Seibald wanna be. He’s just done everything right and plus he is just a big strong fast tenacious worker and smart. Just has all the attributes that you could want in a great athlete. He’s just a gift.”

Jay Iaquinta, Hewlett’s football coach, saw the same thing in Seibald that he saw in another great high school lacrosse player, goalie Quint Kessenich from Lynbrook. “We should enjoy it, we’re never going to get another one like him,” Iaquinta said about Seibald.

The coach remembered saying that during Seibald’s junior year. What set Seibald apart was his unselfishness and sports IQ. “He looked to pass as much as he looked to score, he could of scored much more but he played within the framework of the team,” Iaquinta said. “He was the perfect role model. He always maintained his composure … never took a bad penalty. And when your best kid shows that kind of composure it gives so much more confidence to everyone he played with.”

Though one of the best performers on the field, Seibald is humble off the turf and it took him a minute to respond to explaining when he first thought he was a good lacrosse player. Seibald began at elementary school age playing for the P.A.L. Lynbrook Titans, had some success at that level, endured a slower growth rate than his peers in middle school, then felt “the pieces falling into place” during his sophomore year in high school on the varsity.

Passuello said he is one of those players who made everybody better. “It’s just going out every day and playing hard that hopefully elevated their play,” Seibald said. Just challenging them to challenge me and vice versa. We did everything together. We were a great core group and enjoyed success because of it.”

In college, at Cornell, Seibald played for a national championship and in 2009 he won the coveted Tewaaraton Trophy that goes to the best college lacrosse player. He played on the U.S. national team that beat Canada for the world title in 2010. Currently, he plays for the indoor National Lacrosse League Philadelphia Wings, the outdoor Major League Lacrosse Long Island Lizards, works for Nike in marketing and runs his own Maximum Lacrosse Camp.

“I’ve been fortunate to have unbelievable experiences; to win a county championship with my high school best friends and coaches and to play football with those guys, all those are little memories in my journey and everyone holds a special place,” Seibald said.