The Danbury Lightning was founded in 2011 as part of the Danbury Athletic Youth Organization (D.A.Y.O.). The goal was to offer Middle School Athletes in the Danbury area the opportunity to learn about, and compete in track and field. It has since expanded to include children as young as 2nd grade.

We are USA Track and Field team  members, and compete locally in the Western Connecticut Conference (WCC),  and regionally with USATF and AAU  affiliated youth teams. We are a competitive team and work hard to place high as a team in local and regional competition.  DAYO Lightning we have won 3 championships since 2011, and in 2018 we placed 5th out of 20 teams at the Northeastern Youth Classic In Boston. 

Our coaches are highly qualified and experienced coaches who bring a variety of talent to coaching your youth.  From USATF level 1 Certification to college level competition, our coaches have the experience to develop your athlete to be a top level  athlete at the next level.  We hone athletes' skills in sprints, distance, and field events.

We have three seasons, Spring, Summer and Winter.  The Spring Season  begins in March and ends in early June with an awards banquet.  Each athlete is recognized for their participation with a certificate.  Athletes who achieve outstanding accomplishments are recognized with medals and or Plaques.

The Summer season begins in early June and ends in early August. It presents a great opportunity for athletes to start or continue their training while seeing increased competition.  It’s also a great way to stay in shape going into the fall.

Our Winter Indoor season, which started in 2017  begin in mid-November and end in March. We usually end the season with an overnight stay in Boston to compete in a regional competition. 

DAYO Lightning endeavors to partner with parents to build character, self-esteem, accountability  and  a team perspective in our athletes.  We build a fun respectful and competitive environment.  We work with each athlete to develop their greatest potential, while instilling the values of commitment, dedication, and hard work which leads to continuous improvement.

Our program communicates  with the local High School coaches so that our athletes are well prepared to have an immediate impact at the High School level. Some of our athletes have gone on to compete on the Collegiate level at: CCSU, Bethune-Cookman, Boston University, Davidson College, SCSU, UConn, Villanova University, to name a few.  If you have any questions about our program, please call us!    

GO LIGHTNING!