She found renewed purpose away from gymnastic mats
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
For the longest time, Ashley Reesman’s life revolved around the sport of gymnastics.
Since the age of 3, Reesman had worked at the sport, and as she entered her teenage years, she had her sights set on an NCAA Division 1 scholarship.
Then, in an instant, during a practice doing a routine move, everything changed.
“We were just doing our vaults,” Reesman said. “When I was running, I went to hurdle, I put my foot down. My leg, it hyper extended, and when I fell, it twisted.
“I tried to get up to walk, and I couldn’t even walk,” she added.
As it had turned out, Reesman had torn her anterior cruciate ligament, her lateral cruciate ligament, torn her hamstring off the bone and injured another muscle in her left knee.
“Basically everything on the lateral side of my knee was torn,” she explained.
Reesman’s gymnastics career was over, though she didn’t know it yet. And forced to shift priorities, she dove into Catholic Central High School – and a renewed commitment to God.
“My eyes were opened,” Reesman said. “It was kind of like, ‘God, what do you want me to do next?’”
After graduating as the school’s salutatorian, Reesman has also been named the Standard Press’ Outstanding Senior from Catholic Central. The daughter of Gregory and Holly Reesman, she left CCHS with a final grade-point average of 4.03 – and more than a handful of accolades.
She will attend Marquette University in the fall with plans to major in biomedical sciences and pre-medicine, and has earned a pair of scholarships, totaling about $12,000 per year.
A fork in the road
While her coaches tried to assure her that the knee injury wasn’t that serious, she knew immediately she was in trouble.
“I told my mom to take me right up to Children’s,” Reesman said. “She knew I was hurt, because she said she’d never seen me like that.”
Reesman ended up having two surgeries – the first just 10 days after the injury – and tried going back to the sport about year after both surgeries.
“My doctor did not want that at all,” Reesman said. “She knew the condition of it.
“I started doing the harder tumbling on floor, and I knew I couldn’t continue that,” she added. “That was the hardest part, admitting that to myself.”
Within a few weeks, Reesman had a decision to make.
“I was just so scared,” she said. “I didn’t want to end it.”
And yet, she made the decision to. It was the fall of Reesman’s junior year at Catholic Central High School, and she decided it was time for something.
“I was already involved,” Reesman said. “But I didn’t have any leadership positions because of the time commitment to gymnastics.”
Reesman ended up more involved than she already was. While her grades were high, she pushed that much harder – and was on the highest honors roll at the school all four years.
She jumped into all sorts of school activities as well, joining the track team, serving as vice president of the National Honor Society, the Pro Life Club, the Green Team, Key Club (where she was the school’s president as a senior).
In the process, she learned a lesson that her dad wanted her to. While she may not always be able to trust everyone, she could trust God – and that God would help her find her path.
Her faith ended up playing a major role. She thought she had her whole life planned.
“I think the biggest thing I learned was that you have to be patient, and you can’t have your whole life planned out,” Reesman explained. “That’s not how life goes.”
When she had a chance to step back, she realized she had other options.
“I thought I knew what was best for me, but I didn’t,” she said. “If I’d continued gymnastics, I wouldn’t be at Marquette, which I’m super excited about.”
Now, she looks back at the knee injury, and realizes it was a great life lesson – not just in finding a new path, but that struggles can make you stronger.
“Life is good, even in those struggles,” Reesman said. “Those struggles make it so much better.
“That’s what it was for me.”
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