If you have an old pair of cleats that do not fit or get used anymore, don’t just toss them out. You might just be able to help a young athlete in need step on the playing field soon.

Newtown High School student-athlete Marc Maurath has started a Newtown Community Service Project called Kleats For Kids. He has a booth set up at NYA Sports & Fitness with a goal to collect 200 pairs of youth and high school cleats for a variety of sports. Maurath is working with a national nonprofit called Leveling The Playing Field which will help with distribution to programs in need.

“All my life I have played sports and my parents were always buying me cleats as I got bigger each season. Some I only wore for one season because I could not fit into them anymore. We had a basket of cleats in our basement that weren’t worn out — just too small. It got me thinking about kids that may not have the opportunity to get new cleats every year. Then I got the idea to collect some from my friends to help other teams and athletes that needed them,” said Maurath, who grew up playing town and club lacrosse and is a wrestler at the high school.

One thing led to another.

“I then realized how many kids in Newtown play sports and how many extra cleats are not being used by kids that want to play. My hope is to collect 200 pairs of cleats from softball, soccer, baseball, football and lacrosse this spring,” Maurath added. “The goal of this project is to collect gently used cleats from Newtown’s high school and youth sports teams and donate them to under-resourced youth teams, community programs, and schools.”

Executive Director of NYA Sports & Fitness Ian Yorty allowed Maurath to put the bin at the NYA and also sent Maurath’s flyer promoting the collection efforts to all NYA members. In the first handful of days in April, more than 40 pairs of cleats were dropped off, and the booth will remain in place for the weeks to come.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.