Sieplinga, Max (2017)

Max Sieplinga is a 2002 graduate of GRCH who excelled in soccer, hockey, and tennis. A three-sport athlete for all four of his high school years, Max was coached in two of his sports by fellow Hall of Fame members, Larry Klaasen in soccer and Ken Zandee in tennis.

As a soccer player, Max was captain of the team in his senior season, the year in which they won the Division 2 State Championship. Max mentions as a personal athletic highlight scoring the winning goal in that championship game. He earned individual honors in soccer, being named All-Conference twice, and All-Region and All-State in his senior year.

Max was a leading player on very successful hockey teams while at GRCH. During Max’s career here the hockey team won conference and regional championships. Max was named to the All-Conference and All-Region teams, and he was an honorable mention All-State player in his last three seasons.

In tennis, Max was the 2nd-singles player on the team that went to the State Championship tournament in his freshman and sophomore seasons. He was also named All-Conference for his outstanding junior and senior seasons.

Max went on to play hockey at Calvin College. His outstanding career there included being named All-Conference and Division III All-American for all four of his college seasons. In Max’s freshman and senior seasons his Calvin team finished 3rd in the national tournament, and they won the D3 National Hockey National Championship in his sophomore year. As a sophomore, Max was named the national tournament MVP, and he was the D3 National Player of the Year in his senior season.

Max says that “Athletics at Christian High enriched my life in many more ways than just the actual competition. What I remember most was the fun we would have simply being teammates and friends. The road trips, the all-day tennis tournaments, and the hockey locker room shenanigans of teammates.”

Max tells the story of one of his high school memories: “During my day at GRCHS we used to practice soccer at a park behind Brookside School. On the way to practice, Jon Knol, Grant Hendrikse, Josh Petrusma, Kurt Visker and myself would cram into an old car and race down the Alger extension. We were definitely not racing to be the first to practice. We were racing to be first in line at the grocery store in Alger Heights where we would order greasy potato wedges and chicken fingers right before practice. If you were late getting to the store you had a decision to make: get French fries or risk being late for practice and making the whole team run extra. Coach Klaasen didn’t know it (or maybe he did), but practically his entire team was jamming down fast food before every single practice.”

Max and his wife Sarah are the proud parents of 10-month-old son Harry. Max is the owner of Howie’s Hockey Tape and Howie’s Athletic Tape, two businesses which sell hockey products to professional and college teams, as well as to retail stores.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8