The sports scholarship in memory of Max Spivak  

On February 16th, 2023, The Marlboro and Rutgers community lost an incredible person, Max Spivak, in a tragic hit & run car crash. He was an amazing individual as evidenced by the hundreds of people that showed up to honor him and his family at his funeral. On behalf of all those whose lives the Spivak & Rizzi family has touched, we would like to elect a tribute to Max worthy of a place to gather and pay our respects to his 21 precious years of life.

Max was a leader on and off the soccer field with a desire to continuously be a part of something bigger than himself. His positive energy made him an outstanding teammate, friend, son, brother, and trainer who left a mark that never went unnoticed. Max’s journey in impacting hundreds of youth soccer players at CTR all started in the grass roots of Marlboro as a young player. At the age of 5, Max started playing soccer recreationally. Quickly, his passion for the game grew, and it inspired him to join the Marlboro travel program when he was 7 years old, becoming a part of the MSA Mavericks.

Max was driven to continuously better his game. Through his time at Marlboro, he learned immense amounts about the game from spending so much time with his older brothers, the MSA Warriors. His determination to constantly better himself granted him an honorary player spot with the MSA Warriors during their route to a National Championship in 2016. The Warriors considered Max to be a little brother, which shaped him to be an extraordinarily technical player. Max was a huge Real Madrid supporter who admired Cristiano Ronaldo, who inspired him to have some of the best feet on every team he played for.

After great success within Marlboro, at the age of 15, Max moved on to play at the highest level of youth soccer with Cedar Stars' Developmental Academy Team. He played at the Developmental Academy level for two years until moving onto becoming a coach at CTR.

His advanced technical skills and ability to read the game so well sparked him to become a coach of the game he loved to play. His journey as a coach started as a cadet, where he taught both the recreation and travel programs. After training hundreds of kids, he became a master skills trainer. During his senior year at Marlboro High School, Max joined the Marlboro Varsity Boys Soccer team to officially finish off his playing career. He decided to continue his academic career at Rutgers University, where he pursued a Sports Management degree. While at Rutgers, Max continued to give to his new community as a brother at his fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. Max cherished his relationship with his childhood friends, some of whom became his roommates at Rutgers.

Max was a beloved son to his father Frank Rizzi, owner of CTR Soccer, which has since been renamed to CM19 soccer, honoring Max's initial and the number he wore throughout his youth soccer career at MSA. He always accompanied his father to his training sessions. Frank will miss watching Max take the same path everyday, parking his car, and bringing such a vibrant energy with one goal in mind: help advance the technical skills of as many youth players as possible. His comforting energy will forever be remembered by Frank. Max loved the Marlboro Middle School lower lit turf and Vanderburg Soccer Complex. He spent countless hours playing on those very same fields that he later conducted his small skills classes as a coach. Frank and Max shared a special place together at those fields as their routine was always the same: sharing gear, water, food, and a strong passion for the game. Max’s passion was not just limited to the soccer fields. He had a unique style for fashion that was second to none, always looking good and smelling good.