When you ask someone about Jayden Munroe two words are often used to describe him: gifted athlete.

The Aberdeen Roncalli senior has excelled in multiple sports during his high school career, and his coaches have certainly noticed.

“He’s a special athlete because there’s so much raw potential to him,” Roncalli boys’ basketball coach Dan Gallagher said. “He has that much God-given athletic ability, which is awesome to see.”

While many know about his accolades in athletics, there is a side to Munroe’s story that many may not know. The senior grew up in the Bahamas for much of his childhood before making the move to Aberdeen.

“So, I moved here my freshman year,” Munroe said. “My sister wanted to go to Northern, so my mom sent me up here to finish high school, and so my first few months or so I just lived up here with my sister.”

The experience of moving to Aberdeen was all brand new for Munroe, who did not even know the town existed prior to making the move. Once in Aberdeen, Munroe’s mother decided she wanted him to attend a smaller school, with Roncalli being the final choice over Central and Christian.

“When we first moved here, we didn’t really know too much about Christian,” Munroe said. “We had only visited Roncalli, and my mom didn’t really want me to go to a really big school. She thought I’d settle in better at a smaller, Catholic school, so we kind of just decided to go to Roncalli.”

The move has been worth it for Munroe as he has built connections with many in the community and at Roncalli.

“Aberdeen has actually been pretty cool. I’ve met a lot of new people, made a lot of new friends, and in sports it’s a lot different up here than it is in the Bahamas,” Munroe said. “Roncalli has been really fun. Just the culture up there, the people are really nice, and everyone just tries to help you out up there. I get along there pretty well.”

During his high school career, Munroe has participated in football, basketball, and track, but says his favorite sport is basketball.

I’ve been playing basketball since I was really young,” Munroe said. “Track is kind of new to me, but basketball I’ve been playing for a really long team.”

Munroe said while there are several recreation basketball leagues and high school teams in the Bahamas, Roncalli takes the sport much more seriously. Gallagher said the moment he saw Munroe on the basketball court, he knew there was something special.

“The first time I saw him compete, it was his freshman year, and I wasn’t even coaching basketball at the time. I was the junior high coach, and I was working the scorer’s table,” Gallagher said. “I saw him touch the basketball court, and I’m like ‘Who’s this 6’2” dude as a freshman bringing up the basketball, getting by defenders, and everything like that?’”

Gallagher also said Munroe brought a unique skillset to the Cavaliers at a young age.

“It was kind of a unique thing to see,” Gallagher said. “He’s got so much potential that we weren’t really used to seeing that yet. We didn’t get the chance to see it in football so much when he was a freshman, but in basketball you could see it at the C team and JV level, just going by opponents and doing a lot of really good things. It was kind of amazing to see.”

Roncalli track and field coach Brady Lesnar also knew Munroe had a lot of potential in the sport of track.

“My first thoughts were ‘We’ve got some work to do,’ because Jayden, when he first came, he was a freshman in the fall of 2019 and he had never been in an organized sport before,” Lesnar said. “He was pretty raw as an athlete.”

Over time, Munroe improved (a couple of weeks ago at an indoor meet, he triple jumped farther than any athlete in Roncalli history), and no matter the sport, Gallagher said he has always been a light to others.

“He kind of brings that positive, bright energy to the team,” Gallagher said. “He brings that light to everyone, he’s got a positive attitude, and the energy that he can bring to the court, as soon as he does one thing, it kind of gets everyone’s spirits up a little bit.”

Lesnar says he has enjoyed coaching Munroe the past few years.

“Jayden’s a very coachable kid. He makes my job pretty easy,” Lesnar said. “Jayden’s a tough kid. Sometimes the hardest part for a kid like him is he’s not going to tell you if something is hurting him. He’s just going to go be an athlete, and sometimes he needs somebody to say ‘Hey let’s back it off a little bit,’ but he’s all in and he just wants to be a part of the team and work hard and perform.”

As far as his plans after he graduates, Munroe said he has not decided on a college yet, but says he plans to run track and study human resource management.

Throughout his high school athletics career, Munroe says he has learned several lessons that he can take with him throughout his life. “I’ve learned that hard work really pays off and if you really want to succeed in something you’ve got to work at it,” Munroe said. “It doesn’t just come to you.”