On Sunday, May 4, Wayland High School (WHS) hosted the annual youth lacrosse event, “W-Day.” This event took place from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and had multiple activities available for youth lacrosse players. Some Wayland residents ran a booth where Wayland lacrosse merchandise, such as tee-shirts, hoodies and water bottles, were available for sale. There were also food trucks where attendees could purchase ice cream, a meal or snacks to enjoy throughout the day, as well as free use of bouncy houses. All profits from the fundraisers went to help cover the costs of paying for indoor sports field rentals.

Threading black and orange beads onto string, Wayland resident Avery Mueller (left) and sophomore Frankie Zilembo (right) help young lacrosse players make their bracelets. There were several craft stations set up where kids could make bracelets, decorate mouth guard cases or make bookmarks.  Temporary tattoos were also available with the Wayland Youth Lacrosse logo. Like all stations, these were run by WHS lacrosse players.

“I really enjoyed seeing the young lacrosse players of Wayland,” freshman Addie Cooper said. “Helping them complete various crafts helped me to build a connection with them.”

At a challenge station, freshman lacrosse player Mackenzie Grogan helps a child navigate the obstacle course. In this station, players would be timed as they navigated obstacles like cradling the ball as they moved through a ladder, jumping through hoops and bouncing the ball three times off of the screen before running back to get their time. Like the crafts, these events were player run and free to the general public.

“W-Day is an excellent community event. It brings people together from all the grades and both boys and girls lacrosse. Parents get to see all their kids play, they get to see neighbors play, they get to see their friends’ kids play,” Wayland Youth Lacrosse President Erin Newton said.

Slipping a ticket into a raffle box, 7th grade lacrosse player Maya O’Shaughnessy tries her hand at winning a Yeti cooler. Tickets were $5 each, and participants could win prizes, such as gift cards, jerseys, a lacrosse stick and Pink Palm Puff clothing.

“[We had] awesome gift baskets and so many different businesses and families in town donated to the raffle, so that brought people together,” Newton said.

At another station, 8th grade lacrosse player Owen Capello shoots a lacrosse ball to test his accuracy. There is a “blocker” in front of the net with numerous holes marking different point amounts. This station was run by sophomores Melina Antun, Elle Mueller and Aine Chase. Other challenges included “speed shot,” where players shot as hard as they could, and they’d be told the speed of their ball by a device on the net. There was also “wall ball” where players would see how quickly they could get 30 bounce and catches off of the high school’s new “ball wall.”

Throughout the day, youth teams competed on all WHS fields. This photo shows the 1 p.m. game between Wayland and Weston 7th and 8th grade girls teams, which was won 11-2 by Wayland. The main game of the day took place at 3:30 p.m. when the middle school girls and boys play their annual “Switch Sticks” game. This year, the boys won with a final score of 12-11.

“It was a battle fought by both girls and boys, and I think the tradition is going strong, and I cannot wait for next year,” sophomore Jamie Goodman said.

In addition to the activities at the event, professional lacrosse players Jack Traynor from the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) and Madison Ahern from the Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL) did a meet and greet for the youth lacrosse players. Both Traynor and Ahern signed lacrosse balls and took pictures.