By Christopher Tremblay. Staff Sports Writer

As a freshman last winter, Ashland’s Lizzie Forster was the only Clocker to be part of the MADS (a co-op team made up of girls from Medfield, Ashland, and Dover-Sherborn high schools) gymnastics team. 

This season, there are two other girls who will be looking to make the team along with Forster. Entering her sophomore campaign, the Ashland native is hoping to learn from last year’s varsity experience and improve upon the sport she’s loved for so many years.

“I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was introduced to it in a play group at the gym at 2 years old. I love the environment of the gym and all the support,” the sophomore said. “In the eighth grade, I knew that I wanted to participate in gymnastics for MADS and a good friend of mine from Team Elite (Dover-Sherborn’s Kelsey Chiu) suggested I try out when I got to high school the following year.”

Originally Forster found herself extremely nervous about trying out for the team as she was the lone Ashland representative and only knew her one friend, but she soon found the girls were very welcoming and that there was nothing to worry about.

MADS Coach Jennifer Wrenn believes that Forster was the lone Ashland participant because of the school’s lateness on deciding on athletics due to the Covid situation last winter. With everything back to somewhat normalcy this season Wrenn is counting on Forster to score some points for the program.

“As a sophomore this year she can do all four events, but I think that she will be a threat for us on the floor and vault, while possibility seeing some time on the bars, the Coach said. “Last year each time she took to the floor she gave us a clean event where we could constantly count on her scoring.”

Although the Ashland gymnast is not considered a number one athlete as of yet, she will help the MADS team in securing some wins this winter. 

“I feel that I am best on the bars, but bars and vault are my favorites. Vault is super cool as I get to run and show off, while bars has that swinging momentum that gets me feeling good,” the sophomore said. “I have done the beam and floor and while they may not be my favorites, high school gymnastics is more about the team than the individual, so I’ll do whatever is needed for the team to be successful.”

After her introduction to gymnastics at a very early age Forster began taking classes before eventually joining Team Elite in Ashland (where she has been for the past 9 years) after being recommend to join the program at the age of 7. 

“When I first got involved with Team Elite, there were a lot of older girls on the team and I was fascinated watching them flipping around and swinging like monkeys,” she said. “It was definitely something that I wanted to do.”

In addition to participating in gymnastics year-round, Forster also plays lacrosse for the high school as well being a defender for Boston Laxachussetts.

Playing lacrosse has helped not only with her endurance but has also made her stronger which has translated into gymnastics.

“Lacrosse has a lot of running and you work together as a team to accomplish winning. Gymnastics is more individual, but everyone is still working toward the same goal,” Forster said. “With lacrosse I love the team feel, but there are days I would rather be practicing by myself.”

Participating for a co-op team from three different towns practices take part in a centrally located location. MADS practices in Natick later in the evening (around 8pm) giving the girls the time to go home and do their homework before going to practice, where they’ll work on their routines for an hour and a half.

“The travel to Natick is not that difficult as I have been doing for so many years it just became routine,” Forster said. “Practice would be the last thing that I’d do every day.”

Currently Forster is still working her way back from an ankle injury, trying to get her skills back to where they were but she is primed to go out and do her best this season while getting the best score that she can to help the team during each event. 

“Prior to Covid I was in and out of boots and casts and when Covid hit there were no gyms open so it was tough to get back to normal. All I could do was conditioning myself so that it would be an easier transition when I was able to return,” she said.

Coach Wrenn is looking for food things from her second-year player.

“I’m excited to see how she grows this year. In such a short time last year she was amazing,” the Coach said. “She’s one of those girls we can use anywhere this year, even if it’s a last-minute substitution. She has the ability to gain more confidence in her first full season with the team.”

Although just a sophomore, the thought of taking part in collegiate gymnastics has crossed her mind. She is not sure where she wants to go but it will probably be a division 3 school where she can participate in gymnastics in some capacity. 

However, for the time being she’s fully intent on giving it her all for MADS.