MaxPreps Weekly Honor Roll, presented by the United States Marine Corps: Joe Justice, Seabreeze

As an eighth-grader, Justice was selected by his school's principal to be in a class called Special Olympics. Justice didn't know much about, but was intrigued.

"When I went in, it was amazing," Justice said. "I met all these kids and they were so happy. Ever since then I've just fallen in love with being with them and being friends with them and creating relationships."

Justice is now a junior at Seabreeze (Daytona Beach, Fla.) where he's busy competing in three sports and extracurricular activities. But being involved in Special Olympics and helping kids who have special needs is still extremely important to him.

"Sadly, that's a little bit unique nowadays," Seabreeze head football coach Troy Coke said. "He cares about other people and it's not always about him. He's unselfish."

Justice, who will be 17 in December, takes part year-round when the special needs kids compete in flag football, hockey, basketball and tennis. Basketball might be Justice's favorite sport to help the kids. Justice's role during games is to be a partner where he's paired up with a special needs player and provides guidance on the court.

The basketball team Justice helps has had plenty of recent success. It has qualified for states the past two seasons where it finished silver when Justice was a freshman and bronze the following year.

Last July, Justice's team was selected to play in the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle. The squad captured bronze in a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"That's close to my heart," said Justice, who is an officer in the Best Buddies program with special-needs kids at his school. "They're some of the happiest people you could ever meet. Just being around them makes your day so much better, you become grateful for what you have."
Justice figures he spends at least 10 hours per month volunteering with Special Olympics. With having to travel to some tournaments coming up this month and the next, Justice will be dedicating plenty of time to his favorite cause.

Since he's going to be so busy with Special Olympics, Justice isn't planning on going out for the Seabreeze basketball team this season.

"You're not allowed to play varsity sports for the same sport, and I like to do basketball with (the kids)," Justice said. "I feel like I could make a bigger difference in basketball Special Olympics than with our varsity team."

That just exemplifies Justice's great character. It's a trait his football coach noticed right away when he started working with him as a sophomore.

"He's top notch at everything, he really is," Coke said. "He's a three-sport kid, which we don't have a lot of those down here. Last year, he was the only guy on the (football) team that had a 4.0 GPA, so you can't get any better in the classroom from that standpoint. He's very involved in Special Olympics — has a big heart for those kids. He's a huddle leader for our Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Very active in school, serving other people and on the football field you know he's going to play hard and give it everything he can. We could talk the rest of the day and I probably couldn't say enough good things about him."

Justice is in his second season starting at defensive end and first year at tight end. At 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, Justice isn't the biggest guy on the line, but he uses his quickness to his advantage. The team captain has worked on improving his footwork to get around the linemen who are attempting to block him.

"I try to fake inside and go out a lot," Justice said. "I use a lot of stunts."

Coke utilizes Justice as a run stopper in his defensive scheme. Justice is a player whose motor never stops. He's a grinder.

"He's going to be in the right spot, you can count on him," Coke said.

Justice has 50 tackles this season, three for loss. He also has one sack — three for his career — one forced fumble and has recovered one fumble.

Offensively, Justice has been an integral part in his team's run-heavy attack. He'll get out on pass patterns every so often and has two catches for 52 yards.

Seabreeze is having a tough season at 1-9. The Sandcrabs will have their final game of the regular season on Friday.

As a junior, Justice is looking to next year to have a strong season.

"I feel like me just building more relationships with the young guys will just make us so much stronger for next year," said Justice, who is also plays first base for the Seabreeze varsity baseball team.

Justice is a well-rounded student-athlete. He has a 4.1 weighted grade point average and knows the importance of being sound in the classroom.

"I can't play sports without having good grades," Justice said. "My mom's always told me that grades come first."

Justice is a dual-enrollment student, taking classes at his high school as well as at Daytona State College. He is taking four Advanced Placement courses this semester.

In recent years, Justice was involved with a single-parent program started by his mom through their church ministry. Once a month, Justice would volunteer to watch kids while their single partner could take a break, runs errands, clean their house or do whatever they'd like during their free time. Justice would watch movies with the kids and play games to keep them occupied.

Justice has big career aspirations. He would like to attend the University of Florida and pursue the medical field. His dream is to be a pediatrician who specializes in helping kids with disabilities.