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Worth the Weight

Windham High School coach Jack Byrne organized a Lift-A-Thon for his players Saturday. Each player had a sponsor and raised money based on what level they reached in an event. All of the money raised benefitted the Jake Naar Memorial Scholarship.

Naar, who was a senior on the Londonderry High School football team last season, died in a car crash in March. Londonderry football coach Jimmy Lauzon spoke to the Windham athletes before the event.

“We really appreciate the Windham program thinking of Jake and Londonderry High School for its event,” Lauzon said when he was reached Monday. “Our community is still hurting over the loss of Jake, but it’s gestures like this that show how much Jake was respected by his peers and his opponents. It shows that football is just a game and that we’re all willing to come together off the field when we go through something more serious.

“The football programs in our state are one big community and we all have each other’s back regardless of the battles we have on the field, and I think Windham demonstrated that Saturday.”  

Londonderry and Windham are in the same division (Division I South) and the teams play each other every year.

Four Londonderry players were also on hand to support the Windham athletes, and one Londonderry player participated in the Lift-A-Thon.

Some comments from Windham players following the event:

Senior Nick Parker: “At the Lift-A-Thon each member of the team was challenged to lift specific tiers of weight in certain workouts, and the more each player lifted the more money they raised. By the end, after every player had done their best at each lift, the team had rasied about $1,500 for the fund.

“Overall, the event was a great time for all of the participants and was for a great cause that was really inspiring to see everyone rally around. Events were held inside and outside, including squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, bench press, overhead press and cleans. Four Londonderry seniors and their coach were at the Lift-A-Thon. Both team’s seniors were able to lead their team and display their leadership and strength.”

Junior Aidan Goss: “The Lift-A-Thon was a really good way to start off our season and unify our team. Since the season ended a ton of guys have been lifting in the weight room, with personal trainers, or even at home toward the common goal of reaching our varsity standards. So to see us all come together and see if we have achieved this or how close we have become is a great way to kick-start our year and it’s gratifying to see the results from the hard work we’ve put in as individuals. We came together as one family for a good cause.”

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