Copelan looks to "Max"imize his potential
4/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
 |
Senior Max Copelan was born in Upper Arlington, Ohio and has lived in the same humble abode since birth. Born to a renaissance athletic prodigy of a father and a beautiful valedictorian and homecoming queen of a mother, Max has the genetic pool most would be envious of. Copelan’s parents, who met in medical school at Ohio State, are both bone marrow transplant doctors and although their love is unconditional for their three children, and Max is a self-proclaimed ‘mama’s boy’ who speaks to his mother every day, he says he can not imagine his life without the impact of his grandmother, Phyllis Avalos.
“I can honestly say I have no idea what my brother, Alex, sister, Olivia, or I would be like without her,” Copelan says. “She’s at my house virtually every day and helped my parents a lot when we were growing up, which I know was difficult with two kids like my brother and me. My brother and I were not the easiest kids to raise and we’re truly blessed to be where we are today. I know a lot of people say that, but we were on a whole other level and I’m pretty sure the majority of Arlington would back that up. I’m not saying we were delinquents, but we were far from calm, well-behaved kids.”
Copelan argues that his parental guidance was persistent and never let any of the children settle for anything but the best, which he claims has been an invaluable asset in his maturation. “I love my parents to death and hope they know how much they have meant to my siblings and me,” he said. Copelan’s parents stressed the importance of living a balanced life, “[My parents] know academics are crucial, but they are not everything. They made sure to keep us involved in a variety of sports growing up ranging from ice hockey to swimming. My friends here joke that I can’t swim, which isn’t remotely true, but I definitely did not have a future in the water,” he explains.
Following in his father’s shoes Max played multiple sports growing up, including hockey for seven years in which he made two national championship appearances. In middle school Max unlaced his skates permanently to focus his efforts on the basketball court. “I had two horribly timed injuries in high school that really messed up my basketball career,” he says. “I broke my arm very badly my sophomore year playing football right before the basketball season and that had a huge impact on my decision to give (basketball) up. I still have two plates in my left arm and a scar that is repulsive,” Max says.
Copelan began playing lacrosse in sixth grade as a hobby and certainty never thought he’d one day be playing collegiately. “I actually didn’t even play [lacrosse] my sophomore year [in high school]. At the time, my plan was to focus strictly on basketball, but my family and friends encouraged me to pick lacrosse back up after my injury. My lacrosse coach also encouraged me to start taking it seriously the fall of my junior year. I began getting a lot of letters before I even played my first varsity game. Our coach was a tremendous help and I’m still real tight with him today. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without him. It opened up a lot of opportunities I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise, and I’m thankful for his unwavering belief in me. My derailed basketball career was really a blessing in disguise,” he said.
Despite not playing lacrosse until his junior year in high school, Max landed top-notch accolades including first team all-state, all-Midwest, and all-region. Copelan says his most memorable moment during his teenage years was winning his school’s third consecutive state championship for lacrosse, an unprecedented accomplishment. “To do it with my friends who I grew up with, in front of my family, and for the community that I lived in my entire life, was pretty surreal,” he said.
As high school came to an end, Max started focusing his attention to higher education. He gained interest in Lehigh for two reasons, praise from his father and advice from his cousin. “My father is from Philadelphia and attended Muhlenberg College. He always told me great things about Lehigh, but I never heavily considered it until talking to my cousin.” He continued, “My cousin played lacrosse at Bucknell and was a huge part of my decision making process. He had been in the same situation I was in, and was familiar with all the schools and coaches I was considering. He always gave Lehigh an enormous amount of praise and, when it came down to it, he thought I would be happier here compared to other places.”
When Max came to visit the school and the team he said he had a blast. “I liked the kids a lot, and got along real well with (former head) Coach (Chris) Wakely. My parents came with me on the trip and they both had a great feeling about the school and Coach Wakely. It offered the balanced life that my parents had stressed so much since I was a kid.”
The bond between Max and his fellow teammates is par none. He says he is great friends with everyone, and it’s something recruits often comment on; the team is a tight-knit group. Unfortunately Max developed serious career ending injuries throughout his tenure at Lehigh. His first occurred during his freshman year, where he was diagnosed with a pulled groin, but after 12 months of minor improvements and excruciating pain, doctors realized it was more serious. By sophomore year Max was diagnosed with a torn labrum in his hip. “It’s an injury that almost always goes misdiagnosed because of the referred pain in the groin area,” he said.
During his junior year, coming back from hip surgery, Max was doing a workout with a trainer and hurt his ankle. “I always get my ankles taped because of ankle problems I had in high school, but on this particular day I didn’t for some reason. I went to stop on a dime and change directions and completely rolled my ankle over. It was initially thought to be just a major sprain,” Max said.
The ensuing summer Max went back to the doctors for therapy. After months of failures and little progress with his body, the doctor suggested surgery was the only option. Once the surgeons started the operation they were shocked at what they discovered. “I had basically torn all my ligaments and ruptured some tendons. I also had a break in the ankle and multiple bone spurs. Surgery was something like five hours. The doctor, who is the head of orthopedics at Ohio State, said it was one of the worst ankles he had ever seen,” Max said.
He continued, “It was tough to accept. To know that my college lacrosse career basically ended before it began was a real tough blow. I came in with a lot of aspirations I wanted to accomplish on the field before graduating. Most of all, it hurt to know I couldn’t compete with my teammates. Our coaching staff and my parents have really helped me turn it into a positive, though,” Copelan explained.
Despite not making the statistic board once last year, Max was elected as one of the team captains for the lacrosse program prior to his senior season. Copelan credits his nomination due to the amazing relationship he has with virtually everyone on the team. “I genuinely like every kid on the team which helps. I try to talk to all of my teammates and stay up with their lives as much as possible. I do it because I am sincerely interested in them, and I think that really resonates with most of the players, especially the underclassmen,” he said.
Riddled with injuries and disappointment in his body’s failures, Max has nevertheless shocked the masses, beat the odds, and flourished in academia. Max is a Finance major, with an omnipotent 3.96 grade point average, and is now waiting to hear back from his reach Law schools. “Right now, my top three are New York University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Chicago. I’m still waiting for a final decision from Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford, and I’m not going to make a concrete decision until I hear back from those three,” he said.
All things considered, Copelan wants to be remembered as a man who excelled in multiple facets of college because of his demeanor. “I am not the most talented kid, or the smartest, but I think I am an example of how important diligence, dedication, and compassion are. I’m not saying I have perfected any one of those three, or even really excelled at any one, but I think the combination, and the synergies created from all three, have enabled my success here at Lehigh,” he said.
Max concluded, “I want my teammates to remember me as the guy who would have done anything for any single one of them. I want my coaches to remember me as the kid who never gave up when it would have been the easiest route. And I want my friends to know me as a kid they can rely on for anything, especially when times are at their worst.”
Copelan and his Mountain Hawk teammates close out their 2010 season on Saturday, April 24 when they make the short trek to Easton to take on archrival Lafayette. The game will be played underneath the lights at Fisher Stadium with the opening face-off set for 7:00. Lafayette’s live video coverage of the game will be available on Lehighsports.com free of charge by clicking on the link above.
Story written by Matt Lazarus
Lehigh - Lafayette Preview
