Max Maund is a man on the move.
After helping the St. Francis Xavier X-Men soccer team to another successful Atlantic University Sport campaign, the Comox Valley athlete was a key contributor to the schools’s second-place finish at the AUS indoor track championships. And now he is off to join the Thunder Bay Chill of the PDL for the summer.
“My third season of soccer went pretty well,” said Maund from the StFX campus in Antigonish, NS, where he just completed his third year of Human Kinesiology. “We were ranked in the top 10 of the country for the whole season, reaching as high as third in the (CIS rankings). We ended up in third place in our conference, unfortunately missing out on the automatic berth to the CIS national championships which Cape Breton University got for finishing first overall in the regular season.
“We went into playoffs and played against Saint Mary’s University (and) lost in penalty kicks. They eventually went on to win the silver medal at nationals.” A personal highlight for the talented 6′,2” defender was being awarded AUS First Team All-star for the third season in a row. “Also after this past season I have played every single minute of every single regular season and playoff game since I came to StFX in 2009,” Maund said of a rather remarkable ironman run.
And speaking of running, after hanging up his soccer cleats it didn’t take long for the former CIS All-Canadian and AUS Rookie of the Year to don his track shoes. “I decided I would join the varsity track team mostly just as a way to stay in shape,” he said. “We practised three times a week running 200m and 300m interval workouts. We attended five meets over the course of the season, with the last one being the Atlantic University Sport championships hosted by Moncton.
“I was registered to run in the 600m, 300m, 4x200m relay and the 4x400m relay. In the end, I won a silver medal in the 600m with a time of 1 minute 23 seconds, a gold medal in the 300m with a time of 36.6 seconds, a silver medal in the 4x200m relay running the anchor and a silver in the 4x400m relay, also running the anchor leg. The 4x400m relay made the difference between our team as a whole finishing two points ahead of Saint Mary’s. We finished second to Dalhousie overall at the meet.”
Despite all the medals, Maund did not attend March 8-10 national championships in Winnipeg due to the CIS standard time needed to qualify. “To qualify for CIS you need to be in the top 12 of the whole country in terms of your time,” he explained.
“I more than exceeded my expectations of what I thought I could accomplish running track this year as I have not run track since middle school. I’d have to thank Sharon DeGoede (speed training instructor and CEO of Elite Athletics) for giving me the running background. She helped me get in shape for my soccer season, but now that I’ve done track, her running workouts paid off for me big time,” Maund said. DeGoede taught track and field at G.P. Vanier, where Maund honed his soccer skills.
With three varsity sports seasons in his rearview mirror, Maund now his sights set on the United Soccer League Professional Development League and a stint with the Thunder Bay Chill.
“They play in the same league as the Victoria Highlanders PDL team, except obviously they are in a different conference based on their geographic location,” Maund noted. “The team is not a full professional team so you do not get paid to play for them. However, they will be setting me up with a job and accommodation for the summer months.
“Myself and the goalie from my team will be going on trial with them starting on May 12 and the first game of the season is a home-and-home series with Winnipeg. The team is in a division with Winnipeg, Springfield, St. Louis, Des Moines and Kansas.
“Making this team will not interfere with my last year at school. The PDL (Professional Development League) is a U23 league designed for young university soccer players to have a place to play in the summer months. It does not affect eligibility for university players,” said Maund.
Looking ahead to his fourth and final season with the X-Men soccer squad, Maund said, “Hopefully next year I’ll be able to help bring an AUS banner and a CIS banner to StFX.”
