YFD Senior Spotlight: 12 Questions with Max Sellami

YFD Senior Spotlight: 12 Questions with Max Sellami 

1) How long have you been on YFD?

This is my 10th season on YFD

2) Why did you choose the school you will attend next year?

I chose College of the Holy Cross for various reasons. Just like my high school experience at Loyola, HC is a tight-knit community with only 3,500 students attending. I’m someone who loves to build new relationships with my peers and Holy Cross allows me to form those bonds beyond the classroom. It also has a nice balance between academics and extracurriculars, giving students the encouragement to excel academically as well as cherish being an independent young adult. 

3) Do you know what you want to study? If so, what?

I’m not exactly set on a certain major, but something along the lines of economics and business, coinciding with mathematics. 

4) What is your favorite memory of being on YFD?

I can’t pick one in particular, but if I had to, it would our first international training trip to Barcelona in 2018. One day, we had canceled both of our practices to tour the city and see what it had to offer. We had spent all day driving and walking around the streets until 1am where we had tapas at a local restaurant with bags under our eyes. That trip is something to remember for a long time. 

5) What is the hardest set you can remember doing?

I could say doing 100 100s on a descending interval was tough, but more recently swimming a 3000 for time has topped my list. Being out of the water for about a week and this being my first practice back was grueling. Happy to say that I did finish, didn’t say it was fast. 

6) What is your favorite Amine story?

Going back to what I said earlier, I have many amine stories. One of my favorites was when amine decided to take us to the beach in Spain and gave us time to unwind from practice earlier that morning. We went on this inflatable obstacle course with many different activities to do. The instructors told us explicitly to not do flips on any elevated surface. Of course, in amine fashion, he had me record him hitting a gnarly backflip off a 20 foot high inflatable with his watch on, while being recorded on a go pro.  

7) If you could go back in time and tell yourself something as a younger swimmer, what would it be?

Trust the process; It sounds simple but it is quite frankly self spoken for.  Between the coach and athlete it is a two way street, they trust us to put the work in and we trust them to get us where want to be. Even as a younger swimmer, it might seem like the end of the world if things don’t go exactly as planned at Jo’s, but there will always be another opportunity to race. 

8) How did you balance academics and being a competitive swimmer?

I found time management between the two very difficult at first, but as you get older and realize how important your priorities are, in a way balancing academics and athletics become easier. I set goals for myself in school, as I do for swim, so having the same mentality goes hand in hand with whatever you want to achieve. I have a whiteboard in my room with school work that needs to get done for the week, and after checking off every assignment, there is a feeling of accomplishment in moving towards the next task. I encourage kids to use that method, especially incoming high school freshmen. 

9) What is your favorite pre-meet meal?

Pasta with butter and cheese alongside a fruit or a mean chipotle bowl. 

10) What is your favorite event and why?

100 breast, short and sweet. I also don’t have great pullouts so really the 100 breast long course, with only one wall, is my favorite event to race. 

11) What is your proudest accomplishment to date?

Something that I’m proud of to this day, which taught me a lot about this sport and growing up as a teenager was making my first eastern zone long course team back in the summer of 2018. This was one of the biggest meets you could go to as an age group swimmer. You would spend time with other age group metro athletes, room with kids you may not be close with for a week, curate new friendships and race other high level swimmers from the northeast part of the country. One of the lessons I was taught by making that team was firstly, I have some level of talent in this sport, but secondly I am swimming for something bigger than myself. It means a lot to wear that metro cap and give it your all, maybe foreshadowing other big meets where one may swim for their university or country. I’m glad I went on the trip because it taught me a lot about being a member of a team, while focusing on my own goals for what I would want out of this sport. 

12) Do you have any advice for the younger swimmers on the team who might want to swim collegiately? 

As someone who is swimming collegiately next year, my advice is by the time your summer going into junior year rolls around, start looking at schools which interest you as well as their swim programs. See if the goals you set for the year match up with the times that get kids on their roster. With that being said, email the head coach and get in contact. The more interest you show, the more likely they can be interested in recruiting you.