Cornell alumnus Max Seibald '09 has been selected as a member of the US National Lacrosse team, which will be competing in the upcoming Federation of International Lacrosse World Championships, held from July 16-24 in Manchester, England. During his stay, Seibald will provide journal entries for www.CornellBigRed.com. Seibald, who made the national team for the first time in his career, is joined on the US squad by fellow Big Red alumnus Ryan McClay '03.

Hey all!

I just thought I'd check in from beautiful Manchester, England.

The trip to England has been a great experience so far (minus the lack of sun, excess of rain, and terrible food). For the most part the local people are very nice but I just can't understand everything they are saying so I just nod my head and say “yes” to pretty much everything.

We were scheduled to leave JFK airport on Monday, July 12 at around 7:25 p.m. After sitting on the airplane with no AC for about an hour the captain shut down the plane and said we were 40th in line for takeoff. It wasn't as long of a wait as you would imagine, but a smoother start to the trip would have been nice. I didn't sleep a wink on the plane, but I managed to watch three whole movies and still have an hour and a half of time to kill. We landed at 8 a.m. in England and I was messed up from the time change (they are five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time). I did, however, manage to sleep the entire 10 minute bus ride from the airport to Manchester University, which is where we are staying.

The set up is not that bad. Each member of the team has their own room and own bathroom, and all the competing teams are in the surrounding dorms that make up a "players village". It's actually pretty cool to see all the different nations that are represented here. The eating situation is a whole issue in itself. First, the food selection is the same exact thing for lunch as it is for dinner, so the food probably just sits there all day. Second, none of us know what the mush is that we are eating and when we ask what it is they say something, but I haven't picked up on their lingo yet. Third, what is the big deal with chips? You know how you hear how you need to eat fish and chips in England? Well, all they are are unsalted, bland, meaty fries. I don't know what I expected, but it was something better than that! They offer "chips" with everything and they are not as good as the American, well done, salty and seasoned fries that I am used to.

I did head in to town yesterday with a couple of the guys, including Ryan McClay (he's an old school Cornell guy. I think he graduated in the 80s or something). Total joke! He is a stud! He's one of our best defenseman and he was a member of the 2002 gold medal USA team. That year, not only was he the youngest player to ever make the US national team, but he was named the Defensive MVP of the tournament. Now, eight years later, I have to say, the big fella still has game. Some of the other guys that joined us for a stroll in Piccadilly Square were Matt Zash, DJ Driscoll, [Team USA captain] Kevin Cassesse and Lee Zink. We enjoyed a nice lunch where Kev and I both tried the renowned fish and chips. It was fried fish and fries. Not bad, but if that's the greatest thing to eat here (which it has been so far) then that combined with the weather can make for a pretty ideal vacation spot. But because of all of that's not going on here, I have been able to nap for a good 2-3 hour block each day. The beds, even though they are singles, are extremely comfortable, and as soon as I lay down I am out for the count.

We have had several practices since we have been here and we are looking good. The attitude of the team is great and I think we all understand what it's going to take to come out of this thing with a gold medal.

Yesterday we had our first opportunity to strap it up and scrimmage England. We show up at a turf field, but it is covered in sand – no joke. It was the weirdest surface I have ever seen and the slickest thing I have ever played on. Fortunately enough, none of us got hurt as a result of the surface, but two of us got drilled with a shot from Paul Rabil. I got pelted during the scrimmage, right in the back, and according to a few of my teammates on the field I let out a little yelp. In my defense it was probably a gasp for air. I mean, I did get hit by a shot from THE Paul Rabil. If you haven't seen his commercials yet, he does shoot 111 MPH! The other victim of one of Rabil's shots was Ryan Boyle. We were running through some man-up situations against the England team and he got drilled in the chest with one of the shots and dropped like a sack of potatoes. Every time Rabil wound up for a shot for the rest of the afternoon, guys from both teams ducked and got out of the way. It looked like the parting of the Red Sea. The scrimmage only lasted one half and even though we had a slow start, we finished strong and I believe we ended up winning by a score of 12-3.

Tonight was the opening ceremony, and we walked over to the field as a team. Again, it was cool to see all the different countries that are here holding their flags and wearing their team gear. Many of the teams were pretty star struck and excited to see Team USA. Many of the other countries even came out to watch us practice. They were snapping pictures of a couple of guys on the team, whispering about who was who, introducing themselves and shaking hands with a few guys, and they knew a bunch of our names, which was a little weird. It was an amazing thing to see how much the game is growing and how many people know about it. Of course I ran into the great Coach Richie Moran. He strolled in with the Irish national team, but he was schmoozing left and right. He knows everyone and everyone knows him. I also bumped into Mr. and Mrs. Kamelduski (parents of Brad '10). It was great to see them and catch up before the ceremony began. I forgot to mention, I did see my man Brad yesterday for a bit, and he is entertaining as always. He is here representing Team Poland.

The ceremony began around 5:30 p.m. and it was fairly quick. All the teams walked out onto the game field in two lines, a small crowd showed up and a few speakers welcomed us to Manchester.

I think everyone here is about ready to start competing and playing some real lacrosse. We have had a whole lot of down time and I know I am eager to strap it up and start banging heads.

Time to start focusing on our first game vs. Australia tonight at 7:30 pm.

Cheers,
Max Seibald