Vivian Robinson – July 2022 Athlete of the Month

Vivian Robinson, 14, hails from Mansfield, MA and has been playing soccer since age 7. She began training at Elite in June, 2021, and has trained with Coach Katie McCarthy, BS, CSCS, and Elite’s Manager of Sports Performance. Vivian’s main goal was to get stronger, reduce her injury risk, and be able to play and withstand a more physical style of soccer as she began playing at the high school level. In addition to playing for the Mansfield HS Hornets, Vivian also plays for the Juventus Academy Boston team. As a left back, she tells us that one if the biggest changes she’s seen in her game since training at Elite is that she’s winning more ball tackles, thanks in part to her increased strength, speed and power. Vivian was recently selected to play on the Development Player League team for Juventus, in addition to her EDS team. She’s proud of this accomplishment, as well as the fact that her EDS team has won a few college showcase tournaments and earned a trip to the finals of the Juventus Father’s Day Tournament last month.

Now that she’s been training at Elite for over a year, Vivian tells us, “I love working out here and getting a workout plan that suits me and helps me get stronger for soccer.” Her favorite exercise is the split squat and her favorite dynamic stretch is the quad stretch/lateral lunge combo. Despite her consistent training regimen, like most athletes Viv’s encountered some adversity along the way in the form of two ankle injuries. However, she worked with Elite Physical Therapist, Jane Hatzikonstantis, PT, DPT, SCS, to rehab her ankle injuries while continuing her training with Katie and was able to quickly return to soccer.

When asked what defines a true athlete, Vivian shared with us that a true athlete is “a person who works hard at trainings and is focused and disciplined. But, also has a positive attitude and works well with teammates.” She credits her father with some of the best advice she’s received about the importance of staying positive in the face of adversity: “The best advice I have received is from my dad, which is to keep a positive attitude during games. Before this, I was tentative on the ball and I would get mad after mistakes, but having a positive attitude reshaped my idea of the game.” When asked what advice she would give to younger athletes, she recommends that the they “be encouraging to your teammates and do things outside of practice like strengthening and stretching.”

As for she loves most about Elite, Vivian says, “I like how the trainers always talk to everyone and help them with a workout…The workouts are curated for you and the staff is very encouraging.” She also loves the sense of accomplishment that comes with improving her strength, especially when she’s able increase her weight with exercises, and hopes to improve her strength in all areas (especially the bench press!) in the weeks and months ahead. Based on what we’ve seen from Vivian over the past year, we have no doubt she’ll continue to work hard, stay consistent with the training, and reach all of the goals she sets for herself! Congrats, Viv, on being selected as our Elite Athlete of the Month for July, 2022!

Elite Sports Performance & Physical Therapy offers Sports Performance and Athlete Training programs at both our Foxboro and Stoughton locations. To learn more about our programs for athletes of all ages and sports and how YOU or an athlete in your family can become our NEXT Athlete of the Month, click HERE or email us at EliteSPC@EliteFitCenter.com!