I’m amazed by the outpouring of support and the lengths people are going to to keep Joel’s light shining…
Thank you Aim High and Coach Croft. Not only for this memorial, but for building a football program that Joel truly loved (and that I loved as a parent).
Joel’s Story
On Saturday, February 4, 2023, the world lost an incredible human being. Joel P. Byrne, 15, died unexpectedly, but peacefully of natural causes in his loving home. Given time to reflect on Joel’s impact on everyone he touched, it’s more important than ever to keep his light shining bright through faith, charity, courage, and dedication. During his short but remarkable life, Joel believed in and lived these virtues every day.
His life was rich with faith, family, friends, and especially sport. He was an avid athlete, amazing son, cousin, and grandson, and a fun, humble, and goofy all-around great kid. He valued his many communities—his hometown of Clifton, his many friends, and his teammates between soccer, track, basketball, and football.
Since 2017, Aim High Flag was fortunate enough to call Joel Byrne a member of our inclusive and growing sports organization. He gave his all in everything he did—in the classroom, in his community, at home, and especially during competition. For those that knew him, he was a fierce and incredibly gifted competitor on and off the field.
But most important, Joel approached every meet and game with pure and unmatched sportsmanship.
What does sportsmanship mean to you? To Joel, it meant treating everyone—teammates, opponents, coaches, parents, families, and officials—with respect, fairness, humility, empathy, and graciousness in winning and losing. He always put others first, lent a helping hand to teammates and opponents, committed to ethical behavior and integrity, and always maintained poise under pressure. Although winning was important to Joel, being a good sport was always his primary measure of success.
For several seasons and at the end of every Friday scrimmage, Joel’s Aim High coach would ask everyone the same questions. What did we learn that day? Who performed the best on the field? And who showed the most sportsmanship throughout the game? Voted on by the players, small awards were handed out for MVP and Sportsmanship. Although the MVPs changed each week, the Sportsmanship winner was ALWAYS Joel Byrne. In fact, his coach finally retired the award and just declared Joel the “Forever-Sportsman”.
Recognition
Aim High is proud to announce our first annual Joel Byrne Memorial Sportsmanship Award. We want to honor the way Joel approached not only sports but life as well. Joel was a good sport, an amazing person, and a great teammate. Please help us keep Joel’s light shining bright now and into the future. Coaches will nominate a player from their team who has demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship, good citizenship, and community involvement. Aim High will choose the final candidate in each division and ask that they are present at their division’s Superbowl where the award will be given.
We hold dear to our hearts this endeavor—to keep Joel Byrne’s light shining now and forever—and to constantly remind us all that respect for each other, fairness in competition, and good sportsmanship are always the most important values to share.
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