It's a smelly job, but somebody had to do it!

The Wareham High School girls soccer team collected more than 200 pairs of old sneakers this fall. Instead of being bound for a landfill, the shoes will be recycled and used to resurface courts and playgrounds.

Members of the team gave up their Saturdays during the Wareham Youth Soccer league season in October to collect the sneakers as part of the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe recycling program. Nike recycles the sneakers to make "Nike Grind," which is used for resurfacing fields and courts.

After Wareham High School athletic director Marc Loranger encouraged the various high school sports teams to participate in community service projects, Wareham High School senior Tara DiGiantomaso, co-captain of the soccer team, proposed the sneaker drive to her teammates, who were on-board.

DiGiantomaso had conducted a sneaker recycling drive last year on her own and collected approximately 30 pairs of shoes with just one day of collections.

"As team captain and project lead for this campaign, I am proud of the progress we made over my solo sneaker drive last year," DiGiantomaso said.

The Wareham Youth Soccer league helped the team promote the sneaker drive, while soccer coach Cindy Sylvia helped the girls organize a drive at the high school, DiGiantomaso said.

In thanking the community for helping the team collect all those old sneakers, DiGiantomaso noted: "It's amazing what you can accomplish when you bring a team and a community together!"