I just finished reading the article about Keith Seims retiring (The Westbury Times - April 10) and it really moved me.

Over the years I have had the honor of being both a teammate and friend of Keith's. We played together on the Duke-TOBAY Lacrosse Club and various other teams since we met almost 10 years ago. Of all the people I am lucky enough to have played with in my life none defined the word teammate better than he did. You can ask anyone he ever played with and they will all tell you that no one went out of their way more than Keith to make a new player feel welcome on the team.

In the time before there was a pro outdoor lacrosse league (MLL), the USCLA - which Duke-TOBAY was a member, was considered the highest level of lacrosse in the world. This fact could be a very intimidating concept for young players just out of college to deal with. Keith would always go out of his way to make sure we younger players felt like we belonged and deserved to be on the team. The fact he was a bit older than some of us but was in amazing physical shape inspired you to get your butt in the gym to work out and to hit the road running to get in shape.

On the field I have seen very few people who were on his level as a face off man. He used a combination of skill and brute strength to win draws at an amazing level. Many people think the best leaders are the ones you always hear talking or screaming on the fields and sidelines. This may be true some of the time but to me a real team leader is one who leads by example. They are the ones who strap a team onto their backs and show teammates the right way to go about their business, the proper way to win with class. I know I speak for many when I say that that type of leadership was a trait Keith possessed in spades.

Keith, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my teammate and for being my friend.