By Elisabeth Raingene
On Monday April 28th the Community Ball Wall Ribbon Cutting took place at Wayland High School. The event, hosted by Wayland Boosters, celebrated the community effort to fund and develop the project.
The project was a long time wish in the Wayland sports community that was mapped into the original re-development of the WHS sports complex but the Ball Wall rebounding structure was not included in prior campus improvement projects. Young athletes playing lacrosse, soccer, and hockey, among others, are continually looking for practice space. The Ball Wall helps to meet this need and as a rebounding wall allows athletes to practice independently if needed. The development program of Youth Lacrosse in Wayland serves 350 student athletes who often continue on to join the 4 WHS teams in the Spring sports season (Boys Varsity, Boys Junior Varsity, Girls Varsity and Girls Junior Varsity). Youth Soccer in Wayland serves over 800 student athletes at all grade levels many of whom continue on to play as part of the 6 WHS teams (Girls Varsity, Girls Junior Varsity, Girls’ 9th grade, Boys Varsity, Boys Junior Varsity and Boys 9th grade) and 2 WMS teams in the Fall sports season.
In late 2022 Wayland Boosters kicked off the project but it took a collaborative effort including key contributions from the WHS Athletic Department, Town Manager Michael McCall, the Town Manager’s office, the Town of Wayland Facilities Department, the Recreation Department and Jeff Cappello of Wayland Youth Lacrosse to work through the procurement and cost estimate processes.
Boosters kicked off a fundraising campaign in early 2024 with outreach to the sports community that quickly met the target amounts for phase 1, thereby allowing installation to be scheduled during the summer school break. Total donations of $41,000 funded the $28,306 cost of the structure and installation, with the remainder covering landscaping fees and finishing touches such as painting training lines planned for summer. Major contributors included Wayland Youth Lacrosse with substantial funding from the Eliza J. Norton Foundation, Wayland Youth Soccer, Wayland Youth Hockey, Village Bank, Lynch Landscaping and Tree Service, Extra Space Storage Sudbury, Femiluxe Nails, and Wayland Dental- Dr. Putt. Earlier this spring Lynch Landscaping helped to finish the installation with donated time and materials, making it ready for use.
Boosters is proud to have helped make this project a reality and looks forward to facilitating further improvements for Wayland student athletes.
