For two weeks in July, students from third through sixth grade were invited to the fields at Wilton Lyndeborough Cooperative Middle and Senior High School to practice with their future coaches and teammates.
“You could tell the kids that were absolutely ready to come up to the middle school, and then, the ones that are still figuring it out,” said Deana Chadonnet, secretary of the Wilton Junior Athletic Association.
The Wilton Junior Athletic Association has provided sports clinics for kindergarten through sixth grade for more than 40 years, usually offering soccer, basketball and softball/baseball clinics during their traditional seasons. The Future Warriors Summer Clinics are the first of their kind.
Deana Chadonnet with the free merch provided by the Wilton Junior Athletic Association. Credit: KIERA MCLAUGHLIN / Ledger-Transcript 
Young athletes participate in dynamic stretches led by Coach Coyle. Credit: KIERA MCLAUGHLIN / Ledger-Transcript 
Friends practice with the soccer balls before official practice starts. Credit: KIERA MCLAUGHLIN / Ledger-Trancsript 
Warm-up lap for the athletes before practice. Credit: KIERA MCLAUUGHILN / Ledger-Transcript
With the plan to get students on the fields and integrated with older athletes, the association started this summer program to introduce younger athletes to the middle school coaches and keep them moving during summer vacation.
“Getting them all comfortable up here, with each other, was the goal,” Chadonnet said.
For a week in early July, students practiced baseball and softball, and for the last week of July, they practiced soccer with the WLC coaches and some eighth-grade volunteers.
Thomas Coyle, WLC middle school soccer coach and physical education teacher, said he appreciates the opportunity to meet the younger athletes.
“Being able to get access to them earlier and instill that work ethic and that idea (of) the work that needs to be done, it’s awesome,” Coyle said.
Chadonnet pointed out that the eighth-grade volunteers are going through a transition similar to that of the sixth graders moving up to the high school or varsity level in their sport.
Someday the young athletes on the field will be teammates at the middle and high school.
“Now they’re comfortable, and then those grades, three through six, at some point they’ll be our six through eight,” she said.
Originally her idea, Chadonnet began working with other members of the Wilton Junior Athletic Association and collaborating with the athletic director.
“Genuinely, it was a group effort,” she said.
With help from volunteers, coaches, the athletic director and the school’s facilities director, the fields were ready and practices went on without a hitch. Even gloomy weather didn’t keep the kids away.
“It was just a matter of reaching out, and everyone was happy to sign on,” Chadonnet said.