Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More

Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts.

Please enter a valid zipcode.

A simple smile is what you’ll find when standing on the sidelines next to Fabius-Pompey assistant soccer coach Josh Virgil.

“I absolutely love it," Virgil said of coaching. "It’s always been something I love to do.”

Coaching brings him a sense of peace. It’s his way of helping others.

"Just giving back," Virgil said. "It’s always been in our family. We’ve always given back. We’ve always volunteered. We’ve always helped out. I’m such a sports nut, and just to be able to give back to the kids because there were older guys that did it for me.”

Growing up in Fabius, Virgil was a force on the field, a captain on the soccer and basketball teams and a standout on the baseball diamond. He was even voted most athletic in high school.

His coaching journey started on the Little League fields. But his life changed forever in early Oct. 1998. A car crash left him with a damaged spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down, and forcing him into a wheelchair with limited use of his hands.

“I’ll be honest, before my crash, I took a lot of things for granted," Virgil said. "And that’s really what changed me. On my business cards, that's what it says. That’s what I preach to the kids whenever I tell them my story that life is too short. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Unknowns were a common for Virgil after the crash, but just five months after the accident, he got back in the coaching saddle with the Falcons baseball team under coach Shawn May.

But the unknowns were always in his mind.

“I can’t throw a baseball," Virgil said. "I can’t swing a bat, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle that. But I learned pretty quickly, it was more of a mental side I could handle. I can still explain on how to do those skills, but it’s a lot easier for me to do the challenge of when they make a mistake to pick them back up.”

For years, Virgil envisioned becoming a head coach of his own program, but that dream was impossible as state law stated a head coach must be CPR-certified, something Virgil couldn’t achieve due to his physical limitations. But he fought for change, and won the battle in late-August, when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill saying as long as someone on a coaching staff is CPR-certified, anyone can be the head coach.

“Just to be able to open the door for others," Virgil said. "To show them they don’t have to sit around. Whether it’s coaching or whether they can open doors for others in a different capacity, to not sit around and take things for granted and move forward.”

It was a battle that took some time to win, but a battle Virgil didn’t fight alone.

“First, I have to thank coach Shawn May for even getting me back into coaching," Virgil said. "When I had my accident, he was the one that came to the hospital to be his assistant; our school for backing us getting this done. NYSPHSAA, they were huge. And then, Mr. Stirpe and Rachel May for helping us get this passed. And then our governor for signing it, and then most importantly, the kids and my family. They were always there keeping me positive through the long process.”

As for his future, anything is now possible.

“Wherever I can find an opening, I’ll take it," Virgil said. "It doesn’t matter what the sport is or where it is, I just want to get out there and have my team and run with it. Or in my case, roll with it.”