Offensive lineman Max Maj is probably one of most inexperienced players participating in the Illinois High School Shrine Game on Saturday.
Maj, who recently graduated from Lake Zurich, didn’t play the sport until he was in high school.
“My parents didn’t know anything about football, and they thought it was dangerous, so they didn’t want me to play,” he said. “I had played lacrosse since fourth grade, and hitting people with metal sticks didn’t seem far off from football.”
Maj eventually swayed his parents after Lake Zurich running backs coach Nate Boekholder, who was his physical education teacher in middle school, planted the seed.
“I remember him trying to convince a few of us to play, so I signed up for summer camp before my freshman year and have been playing ever since,” Maj said. “I look back now and can’t imagine football not being a central part of my life. My whole daily schedule revolves around it.”
Indeed, the 6-foot-3, 280-pound Maj became a two-year starter at tackle for the Bears, earned All-North Suburban Conference honors as a senior and will continue to play football at Michigan Tech, a Division II program. This week, he has joined about 100 other players in Bloomington for the Shrine Game at Illinois Wesleyan’s Tucci Stadium.
“It’s an honor to be chosen to play,” Maj said. “I haven’t had access to a football field since last fall, so it will be good to get practice in against some other top players, and the game also serves a good cause.”
Maj’s size has helped his cause. But he is also an exemplary team player who has made the most of his relatively brief time in the sport, according to Lake Zurich coach Ron Planz.
“He was arguably our most selfless player, someone who has an infectious personality, works hard and wants everyone around him to be good,” Planz said. “To see him being able to continue playing is a testament to his hard work.
“I tell guys all the time that football is unique in that you can only play it for so long. There aren’t any pickup games at the Y, so once it’s over, it’s over.”
Maj is well aware and already has a career path in mind. He intends to major in construction management at Michigan Tech.
“When we moved into our house in third grade, it was a fixer-upper, and my dad did a lot of the work,” he said. “He came here from Poland when he was 18, and remodeling was his first job, so that sparked my interest.”
In such work, Maj sees parallels to football.
“If you do quality work, there’s a quality product, and if you do sloppy work, you get sloppy results,” he said.
Results have been important to Maj, who made enough of an impression as a freshman to participate in postseason practices. The Bears lost to Batavia in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs, but the experience had a lasting impact on Maj.
“That was a real eye-opener for me,” he said. “The guys took me under their wing. After we lost, I remember thinking, ‘We can’t have that happen again.’”
Maj looked inward to see how he could improve and helped Lake Zurich reach the state semifinals in each of the next two seasons.
“It inspired me to work as hard as possible to get better,” he said. “I found a place called Tactic Sports Performance. It was the first time I thought of football as something to consider long term.”
Maj has continued training in the sport even as he pursues his professional aspirations. Last week, he drove two hours each way to Wales, Wisconsin, for a bricklaying job, and he also had football commitments.
“I would wake up at 3:00 am to get my workout in by 4:30, then drive to Wisconsin for 10-hour days and get home by 8:00 pm,” he said. “It was a tough week, but I had to get both things done.
“If you want anything in life, you have to go earn it.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.
