CHARLTON - Two down, one to go.
The two down are the volleyball courts, newly built and in use next to St. Joseph Church.
The one-to-go is the paperwork that David Abbott is completing for an Eagle Scout award.
David, 15, is the son of Christine and Merle Abbott of Casey Road. He will be a sophomore this school year at St. John High School in Shrewsbury. He also holds the rank of Life Scout in Boy Scout Troop 165 in Charlton.
He said he began Scouting when he was eight- or nine-years-old in Cub Scout Pack 165. At 10 he became a Boy Scout and began his journey through the Scout ranks. Scouts must meet requirements in order to progress through the ranks of Third Class, Second Class, First Class, Star and Life Scout. The requirements are more demanding for each succeeding rank, though David said he thinks it is tougher and more demanding now to make rank than when he did it.
But making the Eagle rank is demanding. For starters, the candidate must be a Life Scout for at least six months. David has been a Life Scout for a year.
The candidate needs to have 21 merit badges, including 13 required badges. David has 32, including all the required badges. There are several other requirements, including planning and completing a project and getting others involved in helping.
David said he began to think about trying for the Eagle Scout rank while he was a Life Scout. He said he first thought of doing a project for the town, but that had many complications.
So he turned to the parish. Father Donato Infante, then associate pastor at St. Joseph Parish and now diocesan director the Office for Vocations, suggested a volleyball court. He got two.
David took on the project. One of the requirements for the Eagle badge is that the candidate show leadership by getting others to help. There are some wetlands on church property and those had to be taken into account when choosing a site for the courts. He asked for advice from Thaddeus Szkoda, an environmental engineer, who suggested an area that was separated from the wetlands by a road.
Another part of the process of earning the Eagle badge is to show organizational ability. David was able to organize help from several businesses in the area.
The work started last year, paused for the winter, and was completed by mid-May.
With the help of Mr. Szkoda, David laid out the two volleyball courts. He said he laid them out three or four times before the final location was chosen.
He asked Hylka Construction Co. in Charlton to donate sand for the playing surfaces. The company agreed to provide two dump truck loads.
But when excavation for the courts began, the dimensions changed, the diggers went deeper and more sand was needed – five truck loads more, in fact. David said Hylka was very nice and donated the extra sand without a problem.
Because so many companies helped out, David said, he didn’t need to raise much money for material. He said the parish donated $300 and parishioners added another $100 to that. Parishioners, including his parents, donated some items for the courts.
He recruited fellow Scouts in Troop 165 to help with some of the grunt work. He said he and another Scout dug holes for two of the posts that hold the volleyball nets. The holes needed to be three feet deep and then were filled with concrete to hold the poles in place.
David said it took some time to dig those two holes. A machine was used to dig the holes on the other court. David said that took about 30 seconds.
In addition to Mr. Szkoda and Hylka Construction, other companies that helped out included Lucky Paw Lodge Pet Resort of North Oxford, Hydrograss Technologies of North Oxford, Bobcat of Worcester, Home Depot of Auburn and Valley Green landscaping of Charlton. Others in the parish and in the area also contributed to the project.
Now that volleyball season is well underway, David said he is writing thank-you letters to the people who helped and is preparing a written report for the Scouting committee that will review his effort. He said that is almost complete. If everything goes well, he will receive his Eagle Scout rank this autumn.
The courts are in use regularly. The St. Joseph teams play and practice on them and they are among the courts that the diocesan league uses when parish teams play against each other.
But David doesn’t use them. He said he doesn’t play volleyball,