I am Adem Byrdsell, the founder of Byrd Basketball Foundation, a non-profit organization, with a mission to promote teamwork, sportsmanship, and achievement in young people.
I am a rising high school senior who loves basketball. I conceived this Foundation to help underprivileged boys, who like myself, love the game, but don’t have access to the trainers and equipment to fully develop their skills. From personal experience living in Liberia for 10 years, I’ve met and played with many talented boys who simply don’t have the opportunities to truly excel in this sport. The camp was initially planned for December 2021 in Liberia.
On November 21, 2021, I was in a bad car accident, and hospitalized for 17 days, the first 6 in ICU. I was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, C5 spinal fracture, severely bruised lungs, and two rib fractures. For the first 5 days, a ventilator was my lifeline as my body fought to heal itself with the help of an amazing team of medical practitioners, including my doctors, nurses, and therapists. Surviving my accident continues to make me much more grateful for the life I am living I was given a second chance, a chance that many people who have been in accidents as severe as mine were not fortunate to receive.
Today I am on my way to a full recovery, only by the Grace of God. I am running track and playing basketball at full intensity. This experience has made me more determined to not only elevate my game, but also share my story and tell underprivileged boys, who love the game, that they can overcome any obstacle with hope, faith, and a healthy body, some of the traits that helped me to heal as miraculously as I did.
With my second chance, I also learned the importance of giving back. I was determined to not only host the first camp but build it into a program combining healthy living and sports. The camp was held from June 27-July 2nd, in Monrovia, Liberia. Initially planned for twelve campers, we expanded to 24 campers daily, and with a fundraising campaign that raised more than 100% of the cost, we accommodated everyone. There was no cost to campers!
A typical day started with breakfast, an “empowerment jam” session, followed by basketball drills, training stations and workouts. Campers took a break for a full Liberian lunch and ended each day with a scrimmage. A transportation stipend was paid to campers. Empowerment jams were hosted by coaches and professionals who spoke on various topics including, sportsmanship, the importance of education, basketball fundamentals and healthy living/wellness.
Each camper received a camp t-shirt, backpack, water bottle, shorts and a one-year membership to the YMCA, which will allow them access to the gym, to continue learning the game of basketball, as well as other facilities, including the computer lab.
We made a call for donations through a GoFundMe campaign and corporate sponsorships. The camp was budgeted at $5,000 USD and raised $7, 349 USD, with the support of 44 donations! The commitment of individuals and organizations allowed us to carry out our mission to promote teamwork, sportsmanship, and achievement in young Liberian boys. Without this assistance, we would be unable to accomplish the plans to support this camp. It is my goal to work both in the US and Liberia as a Sports Medicine Doctor, advancing the profession and supporting and mentoring young people. I have been accepted into Morehouse College and will enroll in Fall 2023, majoring in Kinesiology.
Everyday I make it my mission to make a positive change in people's lives around me because the person I am today is because people have poured into me and changed my life. On a daily basis I give people compliments and try to boost their mood by making them laugh.On a school level I am involved in over half a dozen clubs and presidents of three of them. I plan and create events to create school spirit in the school. For instance, in Student Government Association I help plan pep rallies and games. Seeing the smiles on my peers' faces was and still is so priceless. These things I do at school are subconscious. Our school mascot is a Ram and we have an acronym that corresponds with it and it’s R=Respectful A=Accountable M=Motivated S=Successful. When I do these things I am fulfilling our school’s motto and I’m making the lives of everyone around me more enjoyable and pleasant.
The thing that I consider as my legacy in my high school career is the service project that I have been facilitating and planning since 2020. I am the creator and CEO of Reading in the Right Direction. The goal of the program is to equip,facilitate,and encourage reading to elementary school students in hopes that they will find pleasure in reading leisurely. When first introducing my program I started with an afterschool program here in my county. I accumulated over 35 hours with this service project.The problem that the school faced was that students were reaching the 4th and 5th grade and were only reading at 1st and 2nd grade levels. This problem was revealed to me when I went and volunteered with my school. We traveled to different schools in our county to help with SRA. SRA is a very intensive reading program that focuses on the mastery of reading. The students would work on learning the sounds of letters and how to sound words out when reading. I observed that the passages that the students were reading were on a fourth or fifth-grade level, and they were in the 8th grade. I was so disappointed to see this in my own county. It seemed like the students were just being passed on to the next grade, I wanted to stop this cycle so I started at the elementary level. I started by going to the school about twice a week and reading the students a book every time I saw them. I also gave them a reading log to track their progress. When the students reached a certain amount of reading time they would get a prize from me. The students would be so excited to see me every week to hear a new story and get their weekly surprise from me. I started to see an amazing improvement in their reading skills and their confidence in reading aloud.
I love these kids for sticking with me and being a part of my program. The love is surely mutual! When the program ended the students were on the verge of tears and they were telling me “please don’t leave us” and “Ms. Arion, please come back soon”. Although developing their reading skills was my primary goal going into the program, the love and relationship we all made is what really affected me the most, and I am ever so grateful. So all in all Reading in the right direction is one of the main impacts that I made in my community and school system.
