Three-sport Ferris athlete Max Thompson flows with the seasons

When it came time to pick a sport, Max Thompson couldn’t choose.

Pick a sport? No. He picked three sports.

Over his Ferris High career, Thompson has excelled at all three of his sports: as a defensive back for the Saxon football team, a shooting guard in basketball and, until this season, a fine defender for Ferris soccer coach Robin Crain.

“I’ve always loved playing all three sports,” he said, laughing. “I didn’t want to choose just one.

“People are always asking me which of my three sports is my favorite. I tell them, ‘Whichever sport is in season at that time, that’s my favorite.’ ”

The three-sport athlete is a rare sight in these days of sports specialization. Most sports, if not year-around endeavors, certainly soak up much of an athlete’s attention over multiple seasons – especially summers.

“The thing that I’ve found is that most coaches are really understanding when it comes to dividing up your time,” Thompson said. “If you’re playing another sport and you have a game, they are pretty good about letting you miss a practice here and there.”

And there are benefits to having athletes who are good at a number of sports.

“The beauty of some of those guys who are multisport athletes is that they can read situations,” Crain said. “If they’re really good athletically at their sports, then they are good at reading the field and situations. That gives you a little bit of an advantage, I think.”

Thompson agreed. All three of his sports require players to read the field and anticipate angles of attack.

Thompson has played at both ends of the soccer pitch for the Saxons.

“When I was a freshman, we lost our goalkeeper and they moved me into goal,” he said. “I actually finished my freshman year as the backup goalkeeper on the varsity.”

As a sophomore, Thompson was inserted by Crain into the middle of his defense and he was a stalwart in front of the goal for two full seasons.

“Last year, a lot of our forwards were seniors,” Thompson said. “Coach Crain decided to move me to forward to boost our offense. That’s our coach, being a wizard.”

Thompson has been magic for the Ferris offense, leading the Saxons in goals scored.

“Even though Max is scoring most of our goals, he’s really been our most effective passer,” Crain said. “I coached basketball for about 15 years. You can see it – what you learn in basketball translates to soccer. Max just understands court awareness and defensive positioning. He anticipates well, and he reads the situation well.

“But the one thing about Max is that, bottom line, he really wants to win. He’s a role model for how he exerts himself.”

Thompson and the Saxons will need that winning spirit this week. Coming off a league game with Mead on Wednesday, Ferris travels to Hart Field to play archrival Lewis and Clark.

“You know, I’ve played a lot of rivalry games with LC over the years,” Thompson said. “I love those games. Those have always been my favorite games.”

The most difficult part of being a three-sport athlete, Thompson said, is the transition from sport to sport.

“I get about a week off between sports,” he said. “But those first couple weeks of a new season are really tough on me. Making the transition from football to basketball just kills me. And the transition from basketball to soccer is tough, too. Your body gets used to one way of working out and it takes a while to slide over to a different kind of workout.”

The transition he’s most concerned about, however, still looms.

“Right now, I’m still in the middle of the soccer season and we’re all focused on getting to the playoffs and hosting a first-round game at home. But I’m used to having football ready to start summer practices right after soccer gets done, and I won’t have that this year.

“I think it’s going to hit me hard that all of my sports are going to be done and I’m not going to have that anymore.”

Thompson said he plans to concentrate on being a student when he enrolls at the University of Washington in the fall.

Well, mostly a student.

You can expect to see Max Thompson as a terror on the fields of the UW intramural program.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, laughing. “I expect I’ll be really involved in intramurals. When you stop and think about it, sports have always been my social connection. I’ve always made my friends through playing sports. Hanging out and playing sports has always been what I do with my friends.

“It’s going to be different, not playing on a team any more. But I think I’ll still use sports as my social outlet.”