Riley Schlumper – October 2025 Athlete of the Month

Riley Schlumper, 13, of Mansfield, started training at Elite Sports Performance & Physical Therapy in Foxboro in June 2024. She currently attends Qualters Middle School and plays club volleyball for Mass Premier. Riley has been playing volleyball for about a year and has quickly come to love the sport!

Riley initially came to Elite hoping to improve her strength and power. Riley continues to train because she notices it’s improved her volleyball performance and athleticism. She’s improved her vertical leap, strength and her endurance. She wants to continue to work to improve her lower body power and arm strength. 

Riley has been on Mass Premier’s club volleyball team, which had only 3 openings, and said she made it her first year of playing. She plays backrow or outside hitter and has been the main hitter for her team.  She faced some adversity last season when she sprained her wrist during a game, but she played the rest of the game since her team was short players. She persevered through the pain to ensure she did not let her team down! She is very proud of her team, which won several tournaments last season.

Riley always comes to Elite with the biggest smile, positive attitude, and a determined work ethic (and usually a Twix bar for Coach Katie!) She defines a “true athlete” as “somebody that has a good attitude when they lose or win” also as a person “that supports you even if you are having trouble.” We’ve seen this quality in Riley here Elite; she is always there to help out an athlete, not just on the court but in the gym as well! Her favorite athlete also demonstrates these skills. Justine Wong-Orantes is an Olympic medalist in volleyball and won “the best libero” award.

Riley encourages younger athletes to work hard and take on challenges. She believes that “you should never not do something because you think it is difficult, in the end you are only hurting yourself.” She has found volleyball to impact her life positively. She explained that it was the first team sport she has participated in and has had to adjust to being on a team. She also noted that volleyball has allowed her to make friends and has found it to be a positive atmosphere.

Riley tells us she would highly recommend Elite to friends/teammates because it has helped her improve her performance and “the atmosphere is great and I really enjoy it.” She also enjoys seeing the improvements she’s made in her strength, power, agility and endurance since she began training consistently at Elite. 

Riley is gearing up for another club season starting soon. She is headed off to high school next year and plans on pursuing high school volleyball in addition to continuing to play on her club team. She also has future plans of attending college and is considering playing volleyball at collegiate level. We’re excited to announce Riley Schlumper as our Elite Athlete of the Month for October, 2025! Keep getting after it and making us proud!

Elite Sports Performance & Physical Therapy offers Sports Performance programs and Sports Physical Therapy at both our Foxboro and Stoughton locations. To learn more about our programs and services 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!