Soccer
Favorite athlete: Zlatan Ibrahimović
Favorite team: Paris Saint-Germain
Favorite memory competing in sports: Scoring my first varsity goal as a freshman. I think it was against Devon Prep.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: It was against Lower Moreland in my sophomore year. I was dribbling with the ball down the sidelines and some kid (from Lower Moreland) – I guess he went to tackle me – pulled my pants down.
Music on iPod: Before games, Rap. After, Classic Rock and Alternative Rock
Future plans: I hope to attend Carnegie Mellon and major in Finance and Accounting. When I get really old, I hope to be a CFO of a company.
Words to live by: “Always give 100 percent. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
One goal before turning 30: Travel the world.
One thing people don’t know about me: My mother couldn’t find a teacher job around here so she had to work in Virginia for two years – last year and the year before – while I stayed here in Pennsylvania with my dad and my brother.
By GORDON GLANTZ
When Riley Woron develops a passion for something, get out of the way.
It’s going to run its course, and on its own timetable, before morphing into something else.
This was apparent back in the middle of fourth grade. Woron, the Univest Male Athlete of the Week, read about a boy who wore a Brett Favre jersey for several years before taking it off.
Woron became enamored with his new Reggie Bush jersey and a light bulb went off in his head.
He wore a Reggie Bush shirt for 1,642 days in a row, from the middle of fourth grade through to the summer before ninth grade (when Bush took his talents from the Saints to Dolphins, making the shirt obsolete).
“I put it on, and I loved it,” he recalled. “I just kept on wearing it.
“But I’m still not in the Guiness Book of World Records.”
Maybe not, but the Springfield High senior is famous around Oreland for his “shirt.”
He admits that other kids teased him about it, as doubts were raised about hygiene.
“Yeah, the others, they thought it must be the smelliest thing ever, but it wasn’t,” he said. “I set guidelines.”
If not, they were set for him.
“Many nights, I had to pull it off of him while he was sleeping to wash it so it was ready for him to wear to school, etc.,” said his mother, Ann.
The reality is that Woron would not have been voided from the record books on a technicality.
By fourth grade, he was well into his ongoing stint with the Montgomery United Soccer Club. He also served as a ball boy for the Springfield High Soccer team while his older brothers, Hunter and Mack, played for longtime coach Dan Meder.
And, by middle school, he was playing soccer for his school.
Literally and figuratively, when comes to his passions, Riley Woron would only give you the shirt of his back for a few things.
And soccer is right there, at the top of the list.
Blood Sport
To say soccer is in Woron’s blood would be the understatement of understatements.
Sure, he “played a little bit of little league,” but baseball was not the sport for him.
“Soccer was just my place,” said Woron. “It is where I feel most comfortable.”
His brothers were deep into soccer, and he began with Montgomery United early, playing for it U-8 squad while serving as a ball boy and catching Meder’s eye.
“Riley has really been part of the Springfield Soccer program since he was young,” Meder remembered. “He ran the lines as a ball boy for his two older brothers, and even at that time, nobody worked harder than Riley. He ran more than the boys on the field.”
The hard work has paid off, as the center defensive midfielder is the senior co-captain for the Spartans; a role he said he was groomed for going back to his sophomore year, when co-captains Tyler Bond and Will Lambert, took him under their wing.
“Tyler and I were close before,” he said. “Our families are close, the Worons and the Bonds, and he was close with Will and we became close.
“They showed me how to be a captain by what steps they took. I’ve been trying to take the same steps.”
At the time, he was already a veteran, having earned a spot on the squad as a freshman.
“It’s been a long time,” he said, adding that varsity level soccer was not overwhelming.
“I didn’t feel like a newbie or anything. I knew what the coaches were expecting, so I just went out there on the field and did it.”
Following in the trail blazed by his brothers – and older influences like Bond and Lambert – Woron has come to emulate Springfield soccer.
“Riley has been a four-year varsity starter and, while he is captain this year, he has led this team for several years,” said Meder. “His work ethic and positive attitude are contagious.”
“He is willing to serve any role the team needs. He'll play any position, he'll make any adjustment we ask and he leaves it on the field, he gives everything he has.”
Woron has the same level of respect for Meder, partly because he doesn’t place total emphasis on winning as the be-all and end-all for one for the smallest school in the Suburban One League.
“He makes sure we respect each other, respect other teams and respect the coaches,” said Woron, who added that he doesn’t feel any extra burden as captain, even with co-captain Ben Wiley going down with an injury.
“I don’t think anything has changed,” he said. “I’ve gone about it the same as I have the last few years.”
All About Nana
When it comes to the subject of respect and love, look no further than Woron’s family tree.
Nancy Woron, his grandmother, is better known as “Nana.”
The creator of famous “Nana sandwiches” lives a few states north, in Massachusetts, but that doesn’t stop her from being regarded someone who has “always been there” in his life.
“She makes the trip down at least 15 times a year,” he said. “She makes every game she can make, and always cheers me on.”
But she has always done a lot to shape Woron’s character.
“She has taught me about keeping my promises, about integrity and about doing what’s right,” he said.
To that same end, his brothers have played similar roles as mentors who have been through the same experiences.
“They are helping me a lot with the college process – how to have a reach school, a safe school, etc.,” said Woron, who is hoping to play soccer at the Division III college level at Carnegie Mellon University, a process that will include a soccer camp run by the coach, Arron Lujan, next month.
“They have been teaching me that if you make mistakes, how to fix them and what will make me a success. They have had a huge influence on me. They have been my main role models for everything I do in my life.”
Making Trouble
It was through one of his brothers that Woron met Tamba Mbwira, who got him involved in volunteering for the Special Olympics.
Woron – in addition to finding time to hold down the role of Student Council president and running school activities ranging from the homecoming events to coffee houses to blood drives -- coaches soccer and floor hockey for special needs teens and adults for a team called The Troublemakers.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Woron. “(Mbwira) went to high school with my brother. They were in the same year. He asked me if I wanted do it. I said, ‘yeah, man, just tell me when.’ They are awesome.
“It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Better than being in the Guiness Book of World Records.
