Blackstone Valley August 25, 2023

24 The Blackstone Valley Xpress • www.theblackstonevalleyxpress.com • August 25, 2023
SPORTS
Grafton welcomes new AD
BY CHRISTOPHER TREMBLAY,
STAFF SPORTS WRITER
With the departure of Grafton
Athletic Director Kevin
Anderson making a move
over to Ashland in the same position,
he left a vacancy in Grafton
that needed to be filled. Enter
the Gators’ new Athletic Director
Ashley Paulsen.
The new AD grew up in Framingham
and was a gymnast there
before heading to Arizona State to
study business, but after finishing
her college degree and working for
TJX in her hometown for a couple
of years, she realized that she was
in the wrong field.
“I originally thought that I’d
work in corporate America for a
Fortune 500 company and make
lots of money,” Paulsen said.
“After working for TJX, I found
that working 9-5, sitting at a desk
just wasn’t for me. I had always
coached gymnastics and wanted to
take my abilities to the high school;
thinking that it was a good niche,
teaching the younger athletes.”
Paulsen felt that she was still
young enough to teach the high
school athletes the skills that needed
to be successful, while still being
able to use a tough love mentality
in their training. In 2015 she was
coaching gymnastics at her alma
mater while subbing on a part-time
basis as a teacher. A few years later
she started to get into teaching and
had an opportunity to become a
long-term high school teacher, so
she jumped at the opportunity.
In the meantime, she was studying
to better herself and looking to
become an athletic director down
the road, when she landed a job
with Framingham high school as
the Assistant Athletic Director.
For the past four years she studied
under her mentor Paul Spear.
“I loved being at Framingham
and learned a lot from Paul,” she
said “He taught me everything and
gave me the full athletic director
experience over those four years.
Last summer Paulsen and her
boyfriend bought a house in Grafton
and found herself commuting
to and from Framingham, when an
opportunity opened up in Grafton.
This was too good to be true, so
Paulsen decided to apply for the
vacancy that Anderson left.
“I happened to be preparing for
AD jobs, when the opportunity
came up in Grafton,” Paulsen said.
“Having been in the town for about
a year I had come to love everything
that Grafton stood for and
the community aspect of the town,
especially with athletics.”
Now as the Gators’ new AD
Paulsen wants to continue the
success that Andrson built over his
tenure in Grafton. She would also
like to expand the sport options in
terms of adding more teams to the
athletic programs. According to the
new AD, Grafton is adding a Junior
Varsity 2 (much like a freshman
team) to the boys soccer program
and volleyball seems to be gaining
a ton of traction that would require
3 levels.
She would like to bridge the gap
between the youth sports and the
middle school sports and middle
school to high school.
“There are a lot of amazing
youth sports here in Grafton,”
Paulsen said. “I want to continue
to work with everyone together as
one and get sports in the area on a
higher level.”
Ashley Paulsen is the new athletic director for
the Grafton High School Gators.
Chris Tremblay photo
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