Since early August, Newtown Youth Football and Cheer participants have been hard at work preparing for the upcoming season.

The football players have used the turf at Treadwell Park and natural grass surface behind Newtown High School, participating in agility, skill, and fitness drills under the direction of coaches. Cheerleaders are working on routines and getting in sync to support the football players and gear up for competitions of their own; they’ve been practicing at fields, including Hawley School’s Taylor Field, and gymnasiums, including NYA Sports & Fitness.

Following a preseason jamboree in Cheshire, the Newtown gridders will kick off the regular campaign on Sunday, August 26. The preseason drills are in place to help get the young athletes ready for the first snaps, passes, catches, and tackles of the season.

Part of the football preparation includes everything from tackling and blocking drills to ball-carrying and working on timing. Players rotate from station to station for each drill as they get ready for game action. Padded tackling dummies are utilized, as are obstacles for footwork drills.

With the help of high school team member volunteers, coaches had the up-and-coming players work on hand-eye coordination and focus as the they stutter-stepped using a rope ladder as a guide while catching tennis balls tossed by volunteers.

The program has nearly 140 registered players and about three-dozen coaches. Teams are offered for second and third graders as well as athletes in grades four through eight.

Newtown’s youngest players are known as the 79ers since the participants are typically ages 7-9; this is an introduction to football for the athletes.

The fourth grade team members make a big step with special teams and more schemes added to the playbooks.

Newtown’s program has 71 cheerleaders who tumble, flip, toss, and dance — using strength as much as skill for many of their stunts.

The payoff for all of this summertime work — the touchdowns, tackles, tumbles, and tosses alike — will be on display at Hawley’s Taylor Field for weekend home contests this fall.