Lorenco isn’t just an ordinary student. She juggles school at Colonia High, gymnastics, and volleyball all in her freshmen year. She plays for All Star Gymnastics and the Colonia High School Volleyball Team.
Gymnastics History
For those who are unfamiliar with gymnastics, it is a sport that has been around for nearly 2,000 years and has been a competitive sport for over 100 years. Gymnastics was introduced to the United States in the 1830’s and is now a sport in the summer Olympics. Events for this sport include the vault, uneven bars, balance beams, floor exercises, etc. Gymnastics began for Ashley Lorenco when she was six years old. “My favorite activity is bars, vault, and floor” Lorenco said, “and beam is my least favorite unless it’s dismounts.” (Dismounts are flips and stunts off of a beam).
Boxing History
Gymnastics wasn’t the only sport Lorenco played, but she also did boxing for a year. Boxing is a contact sport. Women’s boxing was founded in London of the1720’s, but in the 1900’s women really began to make their mark. In her time of doing boxing, Lorenco won 16 out of 22 matches. “It was fun fighting against people,” Lorenco stated. Although it was fun for Lorenco in the beginning, she eventually quit boxing to continue advancing in volleyball and gymnastics. She lost interest in boxing over time and it became less fun for her. She may consider doing boxing again one day, “maybe in the future, if I don’t do volleyball or gymnastics,” said Lorenco.
Volleyball History
The last sport Lorenco plays is volleyball. Volleyball is a team sport that began in 1895. It was originally called “mintonette” and was invented four years after basketball by a man named William G. Morgan. Morgan created this sport to blend elements of basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball to create a new kind of sport. Volleyball for Ashley Lorenco started when she was in fifth grade. She started off playing for the recreation team at the Evergreen Center in Colonia, New Jersey. When Lorenco entered eighth grade, she made the Colonia Middle School Team, and now she plays for the team at Colonia High School.
Getting Started
Gymnastics began for Ashley Lorenco when she was just six years old. Here is a photo of Ashley doing gymnastics when she was younger.
When Ashley Lorenco was only six years old, she was introduced to gymnastics. She got interested in gymnastics after her cousin introduced her to the sport and now after nine years later, she is still very involved in the sport. After being introduced to gymnastics by her cousin, Lorenco’s interest in gymnastics took off. She went to three different gyms in her years of gymnastics and every three months she goes to serious camps to help with her skills. She continues to go to, competitions, practices, etc. When it comes to volleyball, she hadn’t started until a little later. Lorenco began playing for a recreation team in fifth grade and continued to play until she made the middle school team in eighth grade. As a ninth grader now, she plays for the freshman team and sometimes the junior varsity. She mainly plays back row.
Finding Time
Lorenco is quite a busy person. She has practice nearly every day for four hours and then she comes home to do her homework. On top of this, she still has to do gymnastics. Luckily for her, managing time for everything seems to fall perfectly with different times and barely anything overlapping. However, when it comes to Ellie Lorenco, Ashley Lorenco’s mom and ride, things could get tough sometimes. Lorenco’s schedule also interferes with her mother’s, “but as long as I work around it, it’s all right. I stop my things to drive her back and forth to competitions and team meets or practice but at the end I know it’ll be worth it,” said Ellie Lorenco. Ashley and her teammates juggle their sports and school. Sometimes it can get difficult to balance everything. “I never get tired of volleyball. I just get tired of being so busy and getting stressed trying to balance volleyball and school,” said Briana Tiseo, a volleyball teammate.
Ashley Lorenco’s teammate and close friend, Jessica Donovan poses for a picture.
Practice Makes Perfect
Not only are these activities time consuming, but they also require a lot of dedication. Lorenco spends some time every day doing something tied to these activities. Although for her, it is okay because of how much she enjoys these activities. “I never get tired of gymnastics because it is an individual sport and I am my own person. With volleyball I do sometimes because I sit out and it tires me, but once I get out on the court I’m excited,” said Lorenco. “They’re basically my life.” Practices are meant to push a player to get better and to help the athlete to improve in their skills. Volleyball practice consists of conditioning, doing passing drills and hitting drills. Practices of gymnastics consist of practicing your individual skills to better yourself. “I like practices; they are just really hard, and I hate messing up,” explained Tiseo. With Ashley Lorenco’s gymnastics, she has a series of events she has to be able to do. One of them is the floor, what Ellie Lorenco considers her best.
Taking Big Risks
Gymnastics is a dangerous sport that risks injury. In fact, gymnastics has one of the highest injury rates that increase along with the level of competition. There are difficult moves, stunts, and other factors that add to make gymnastics a difficult sport. “Gymnastics isn’t my favorite because of injuries. It’s very interesting to watch girls or guys be able to do types of twist and turns with the body. It was a great idea since she was so young and a perfect time to join and grow up to be very good,” Ellie Lorenco stated. She also said she was “Excited but was and still am afraid she will hurt herself, as you can see it’s a very difficult sport to be comfortable with despite that kids get paralyzed or broken bones from this sport the most.”
Free Time
“Ashley Lorenco is very loyal and reliable and very caring.” Jess Donovan, a close friend and teammate of Ashley said. “She is very hardworking and she can always make you laugh.” In Lorenco’s free time she plays on the computer, playing video games, and hanging with her friends. Lorenco spends four hours a day on the court and two plus hours on the floor, but she still finds time to relax and do her own thing from time to time.
