Nine-year-old athlete receives Joel Ferrell award

July 28th, 2008

By Katrina Moton

DETROIT – As boys’ basketball at the 2008 AAU Junior Olympic Games came to a close on July 27, the time had come to award the prestigious AAU Joel Ferrell Outstanding Performance Memorial Award.

This year’s recipient was 9-year-old Pierce Boczar of New York’s Riverside Hawks. Although his team was runner-up in the AAU 9 and Under Division II Boys’ Basketball National Championship, Pierce still had a positive attitude.

“I always try my best,” he said.

The award recognizes the athletic ability and sportsmanship of an athlete representing each official sport at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Throughout the tournament, Pierce had a total of 35 points, with five of them scored in the national championship game against Washington D.C.’s Men With Vision.

Pierce is a student at the Birch Wathen Lenox School in Manhattan, N.Y.

The award is presented in memorial of Joel Ferrell, a former aerospace engineer, who held several positions with the AAU, including the presidency from 1976-78. He was also a vice president of the United States Olympic Committee. In December 1988, he passed away in his hometown of Tullahoma, Tenn.

For additional information on the AAU Junior Olympic Games visit www.aaujrogames.org.