The waiting is the hardest part, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers once told us.

But doesn’t like to wait. The Roslyn senior does everything and seems to do it all well. He’s a star on the soccer field, helping lead the Bulldogs to the playoffs this season, and also is on the highly successful Roslyn tennis team.

Sherman plays golf, too, he excels in the classroom (he’s applied to several Ivy League schools as well as other prestigious public universities), and, well, what doesn’t he do well?

We went to an impeccable source on that one: his best friend, Daniel DiSanti, who has known Sherman since they were toddlers and has been his teammate all these years.

So, Daniel, what’s Justin bad at?

“Well, he’s kinda bad at basketball,” DiSanti said, after thinking for a while. “I mean, he’s not bad, he’s OK as a defender. I can’t really think of anything else he’s bad at.”

Sherman may not be the next Kevin Durant, but he certainly has dominated in soccer. A four-year varsity starter for Roslyn, the center back has never missed a game and leads with both his play and his voice.

The Bulldogs have made the playoffs this fall for the second time in Sherman’s career, and he’s a big reason why.

“He puts out the fires before they get started,” said Roslyn head coach Juan Mejia. “He’s got this incredible ability to see things developing and get into spots before things get dangerous.

“He’s like an opera conductor back there, he sees everything and directs everybody to where they need to be.”

Sherman is driven by many things, including the desire to be better on the pitch than his dad, Michael, a former high school star at Half Hollow Hills West, in Suffolk County.

“A big reason I work so hard is to try to be better (on the field) than my father,” Sherman said. “He had a great career, and everything I do is to impress him and make him proud.”

Sherman’s soccer career started when he and his friends, and their parents, got together and formed a new club team called Roslyn FC.

As Sherman grew, he discovered he liked to prevent goals more than score them, though he has tallied six goals and 13 assists the past two seasons.

“I just like the challenge of really getting in the way of someone trying to score, and stopping them from getting going,” Sherman said. “My dad always taught me to think five steps ahead, so if the ball is on one side of the field, know where it’s going to be in a few seconds and get there before the striker on the other team does. And then you take every inch they give you and don’t give them any space.”

Sherman said playing on many club teams over the years has also honed his skills; he’s been on the Long Island Roughriders USL team, as well as the Olympic Development Team for the Eastern Region.

“Once you’ve played hundreds of games, you know what players are going to do and how to stop them from doing it,” Sherman said.

Mejia said in Roslyn’s 3-5-2 system, the center back position is vital to keeping the structure together, and with Sherman’s experience, he’s never worried about the Bulldogs being unprepared.

“He’s really good at helping younger players and making sure everyone knows what they have to do in different situations,” Mejia said.

Sherman has also starred in tennis, playing first doubles for the Bulldogs team last season and being a part of the squad that won a county championship in 2022.

He was good friends with Roslyn tennis star Drew Hassenbein, who tragically was killed in a car accident along with Ethan Falkowitz last May.

“Even though he was a few years younger than me, he was my mentor in tennis,” Sherman said of Hassenbein. “It was very rough for all of us. One thing I learned from it is you’ve got to look at the positives in life, and I think about how much of an impact (Drew) had on other people. I have tried to take that into consideration with how I act toward my teammates, and try to be the positive guy, and be the best role model I can be.”

DiSanti remembered how hard Sherman took his friend’s passing, and acknowledged there was nothing he could do but be there for his friend.

“The next day we were driving to our favorite donut place in Garden City, and we just didn’t speak in the car at all,” DiSanti said. “We just were both so shocked and sad.”

As he continues to excel on the field and in the classroom (Sherman said he hasn’t narrowed down his college choice yet but hopes to become a lawyer one day like his grandfather Robert.

“There’s a lot on my plate right now; honestly I don’t sleep much,” Sherman said. “But I’m really proud and excited at the season we’ve had, and hope we can go a little further.”